loaf tin - approximately 11 cm x 24 cm / capacity 1.2 litres, (about 2 pints)
sieve
Mixing bowl
wooden spoon
sharp knife
chopping board
wooden spoon
Ingredients
225gflourself raising
115gbutter
1teaspooncardamomground
2eggslarge, beaten
175gbrown sugar
3bananasmashed
100gpecanschopped
10pecan halves
For the icing
50gicing sugar
1tablespoonapricot jamsieved
Instructions
Cream together the butter and sugar until it's fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and bananas. Don't worry if it looks grainy at this stage.
Sift the flour with the ground cardamom and fold into the wet mixture with the chopped pecans.
Line a loaf tin with baking parchment that is about 11cm by 24cm or holds 1.2 litres and scrape the mixture into the tin. Decorate with whole pecans.
Bake at 180C/350F/160FAN/Gas4 for 50 minutes to an hour until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Melt a tablespoon of apricot jam with a tablespoon of water in a small pan. Brush the top of the cake with a pastry brush.
To make the icing sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add a few drops of water at a time until it is just pourable. Use a fork to drizzle the icing back and forth over the top of the cake.
Notes
💭 Top tips
If you can't get hold of ground cardamom then buy green cardamom pods. Remove the seeds from the pods and either grind them in a pestle and mortar or in a grinder. I find it's easier to keep a small electric coffee grinder just for spices, especially as ground cardamom can lose it's flavour quickly.
When you have ripe bananas, but aren't ready to make anything, simply freeze them by putting whole peeled bananas in a freezer bag and defrosting before use.