Spiced banana cakes with hot caramel sauce

Photographer: Adam
Makes 12 small cakes

For me, the perfect banana cake need not involve chocolate. I feel it needs something more gentle, more loving, more saucy to tenderly wrap it in dreamy deliciousness. Enter hot caramel sauce. Roasting the bananas before using them in these little cakes also lends a delicious caramel flavour—it brings out the natural sweetness in the bananas so this recipe doesn’t have too much sugar in it (if you don’t include that delicious caramel sauce, that is).

These are great as an after-dinner treat, and super easy. You can bake the cakes earlier in the day, and then simply reheat for a few minutes in a low oven while you make the sauce and serve dripping with hot caramel goodness. I find a little whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream on the side also goes down a treat—but then I am a total glutton.

INGREDIENTS

Cakes
2-3 overripe bananas
100g butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp hot milk
1 1/2 cups high-grade flour

Caramel sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

Cakes
Preheat oven to 180ºC on Bake
1. Place the bananas on an oven tray and bake until the skins start to weep and ooze (around 20 minutes to half an hour depending on how ripe your bananas are). Set aside to cool. While these are cooling, grease a 12-piece (or two six-piece) muffin tray.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugars until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
3. Once cool, peel and mash the roast bananas and add to the creamed butter and sugars. Mix well.
4. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg, and mix well.
5. Dissolve baking soda in hot milk and add to the banana mixture.
6. Finally add the flour and mix until just combined.
7. Pour into greased muffin tins.
8. Bake for around 15 minutes, or until golden.
This is great as muffins, served with hot caramel sauce spooned over the top. Alternatively, bake in a loaf tin (will require longer in the oven, probably closer to half an hour) and serve sliced with caramel sauce.

Caramel sauce
1. Put all ingredients into a saucepan and gently bring to the boil, stirring frequently to avoid it catching on the bottom.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer for around 10 minutes, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the sauce has thickened. Don’t taste-test—the sauce will be super hot! Just trust that it will be all kinds of buttery, caramely goodness.
3. Serve hot over warm banana cakes.