Easter goodies

With Easter fast approaching I thought it was time to make some Easter goodies. That and the fact that I was in need of an evenings comfort baking! I made banana cake,  and some Easter nests.

The banana cake is an unusual banana cake recipe. It’s a definite cake as opposed to a banana bread. It’s a bit sweeter than the usual breads, and moist and spongy.  It has 6 bananas in it, and cuts into 24 pieces. By my calulations that means that if you eat 4 pieces of my banana cake, then you’ve eaten a whole banana which counts as one of your 5-a-day!  I love making healthy cake!  The recipe is American, and so in cups which makes in really easy to measure everything out.

 

Recipe:

 

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

6 bananas, mashed (or about 1 1/2 cups mashed nana)

1 1/2 cups SR flour

line a traybake tin. preheat the oven to 175c

beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and baking soda.

Beat in the eggs, then the bananas. fold in the flour.

pour the batter into the tin and bake for 35-45 mins or until the cake is cooked. Turn out and leave to cool, then top with icing sugar and cut into 24 squares.

 

 

My easter nests were also healthy. I made them with crushed shredded wheat, to make the nests more realistic. And as everyone knows, shredded wheat is made with 100% wholewheat, which is good for your heart! (never mind the chocolate, butter and syrup wihich goes with it)

 

Chocolate Easter nests:

300g dark chocolate

4tblsp golden syrup

5zo butter

shredded wheat

Melt the chocolate, either slowly in the microwave, or in a bain marie.  Add in the butter and syrup and melt them too.

when everything is melted, mix in crushed shredded wheat and mix until the chocolate covers the shredded wheat, but there isn’t loads of excess chocolate. Pop into muffin cases, and mould into nests.

Pop 3 mini eggs into each nests, and leave to cool and set.