Photo courtesy of Michele Cranston
Michele says… Many years ago I worked in a café where this bread was one of the favourite breakfast items on the menu. I’ve played with the recipe ever since. Back then it was served toasted with sliced banana, but because I often find myself with a couple of overripe bananas in need of a good baking, I’ve popped them into the bread instead.
The recipe was originally baked as little cakes, so if your children love the flavour of this bread, you could also make lunchbox muffins by spooning the batter into small muffin cases and baking them for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
Coconut & Banana Bread
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
100 g (2 cups) shredded coconut
250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
2 ripe bananas, mashed
100 g unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 large free-range egg, lightly beaten
110 g (1/2 cup) sugar
225 g (2 cups) self-raising flour, sifted
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 9 x 20 cm (31/2x 8 inch) loaf (bar) tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
Put the coconut in a large bowl and pour in the buttermilk. Stir to combine and then leave to sit for 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and stir well to combine.
Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the bread comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool a little in the tin before turning out onto a serving plate. Serve warm or toasted with butter.
This is an excerpt from Michele Cranston’s A Simple Table, available here.
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