Recipe Book Challange #3 Banana & Golden Syrup Loaf

Wow, Jubilee mayhem is over. Such a great weekend (as most long weekends are) & it was brilliant to see everyone get into the spirit of things. The flotilla started from really close to our place & instead of standing 10 deep in the pouring rain by Tower Bridge we were able to see the very start of it all sitting right on the Thames drinking champagne & watching all the boats go by with the sun out. A local charity also organised a street party outside our local gastro pub The Sands End who were serving their excellent Scotch Eggs, sadly the only excellent food on their menu now as the quality of the food has dropped dramatically over the last year. So disappointing as i am a firm believer that good quality food is not hard to do, but they seem to have attempted to reinvent the menu and it reads very poorly. Much better to head to the Imperial Arms or The Rose near by. Hopefully it will pick up it's feet soon.   

The Houseboy also completed the dreaded Copenhagen marathon in a very decent 3.45, which for his first marathon and given his injured foot was amazing. Copenhagen is a great city for a weekend, super easy to get to from London, fun people, very cycle friendly but not so friendly on the old pocket!

Jubilee Cupcake

 This is a recipe from Gary Rhodes New British Classics, this cookbook was pretty much my bible when i started out catering in Scotland, it's good British cooking laid out simply. Lots of clients liked 'nursery puddings' and it's filled with bread and butter pudding, suet pudding etc etc, it also is fool proof for cooking a perfect roast. This recipe may be a little sweet for Banana Bread purists, but those with a sweet tooth will love it.

Ingredients:

• 225g self raising flour
• 110g butter soften
• four ripe bananas mashed
• 50g dark brown sugar
• four tbsp golden syrup
• four eggs   

Method:

This recipe will a buttered & grease proofed 900g loaf tin. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Then simply mix all the ingredients until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and bake in your preheated oven for 50-55 minutes. The loaf can be tested by piercing with a skewer, it's ready when the skewer comes away clean. Remove from oven & rest in the tin for ten minutes before turning out & allow to cool. 

For a nutty finish you can 50g of walnuts or hazelnuts.

Sand End Scotch Egg