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banana, matcha and blueberry loaf

21 January 2016 by Dominic Franks

… last night The Viking and I went to the ballet to see the Matthew Bourne production of Sleeping Beauty.  It was both magical and daft at the same time.  Despite our creative predilection neither of us had been to the ballet before and so I thought i’d remedy this by buying tickets as a Christmas gift and I thought i’d start with a bit of modern ballet and a classic fairy tale so that we weren’t too overwhelmed. It was undoubtably stunning, the sets and the music was beautiful and I loved the fact that they set it all in Edwardian times with a clever twist at the end and so our creative juices are most definitely flowing… but it was also just a little bit daft.  We now both feel that we ought to go and see the classic version too, just to see a more traditional take on things.  Either way, it’s quite incredible how, with our offices in the heart of theatre-land in the West End of London, we still barely go to the theatre.  Quite shocking really as we both enjoy it so much when we do go.  I love seeing how creative the stage sets and costumes are which always inspires me in work.  The theatre is quite a restricting box and so it always amazes me how brilliantly inventive the creative teams are that work out the mechanics of moving sets, perspective, lighting and scenery.  Our work at The Persuaders is all about convincing an audience to suspend belief and buy into an experience that will hopefully influence their buying decisions and so any kind of inspiration is always welcome.

banana, matcha and blueberry loaf
I was reminded last week of the power of banana bread by lovely Karen from Lavender and Lovage who made a divine banana bread for my Simply Eggcellent link-up.  Her banana bread is exactly that, a banana bread.  Gloriously dense and moist with a tight enough crumb to slather each slice in butter, exactly how my grandma Sylvia would have served it at tea time on a Sunday.  My banana bread on the other hand is much more of a cake made in a loaf tin.  It’s my mums recipe handed down to her from my step-dads mother… it’s a great cake and freezes brilliantly which is always handy and it’s also very adaptable.  You can add anything to it to change it up a bit depending on what you have in or what needs using up… i’ve used some matcha powder which works surprisingly well with the banana and the last few blueberries left over from our morning juicing ritual and it’s all rather lovely.

i’ve used two small loaf tins but this works easily well in a single large 2lb loaf tin too.

or the cake
8oz self-raising flour
4oz butter or margarine
4oz soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons matcha powder
2 ripe bananas – mashed
a handful of blueberries
2 large eggs – beaten
a little milk to slacken

pre-heat the oven to 180C

grease and line your tin with parchment paper… I simply cut a long strip of paper to the width of the tin and lay it along the bottom so it has some flaps hanging over the ends

place the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl and crumble together with your hands, sprinkle in the matcha and stir

pour over the mashed bananas and beaten eggs and then beat it all together with a wooden spoon, it will quickly loosen nicely, then stir in the blueberries

pour into your tin or tins, smooth over the top and bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean

i’m linking this recipe to Inheritance Recipes hosted by Coffee and Vanilla and Pebble Soup

it’s  also going over to the Love Cake link-up hosted by Jibber Jabber

eat and of course, enjoy!

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Filed Under: Cakes Tagged With: banana, banana cake, banana loaf, blueberries, healthy, matcha, mum, recipes

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Comments

  1. Jo says

    21 January 2016 at 12:49 pm

    This looks lovely, I always love making banana bread and this one looks even better than my usual!

  2. Jacqueline Meldrum says

    21 January 2016 at 1:57 pm

    Oh yum! That looks good Dom!

  3. belleau kitchen says

    21 January 2016 at 5:32 pm

    Thanks Jo… I too love making it and I love playing around with the ingredients although you can't beat a classic!

  4. belleau kitchen says

    21 January 2016 at 5:33 pm

    Thanks Jaq.. its was rather lovely x

  5. Jibber JabberUK says

    21 January 2016 at 8:15 pm

    If bananas go even slightly brown I can't stand the smell of them and mashed is even worse! Your addition of the matcha and blueberries is inspired and suddenly makes banana cake seen very appealing to me! With my old ballet dancer's shoes on if you're after a delightfully silly but deliberately fun ballet then look out for Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal gardée (The Wayward Daughter). It has to be my favourite ballet.

  6. Kate Glutenfreealchemist says

    21 January 2016 at 10:30 pm

    Banana bread any which way is good by me! This looks lush….. especially the addition of the pretty purple blueberries dotted through…… Yum!

  7. Margot says

    22 January 2016 at 11:23 am

    Oh, that looks amazing Dominic!!! And your post reminds me that Michael and I need to go to the theater… back home I used to go regularly but since the kids and all we only see children's end of year plays.

  8. belleau kitchen says

    22 January 2016 at 2:13 pm

    oh that's too bad! I love brown bananas! Thanks for the ballet tip x

  9. belleau kitchen says

    22 January 2016 at 2:14 pm

    Thanks Katre xxx

  10. belleau kitchen says

    22 January 2016 at 2:14 pm

    Thanks Margot… it's so easy to forget to be cultural!

  11. Ethan W. says

    22 January 2016 at 3:04 pm

    Simply wonderful!

  12. Karen S Booth says

    22 January 2016 at 5:10 pm

    FABULOUS looking loaf of banana goodness Dom and THANKS so much for the kind words and tag too! 🙂 Karen

  13. Baking Addict says

    24 January 2016 at 1:35 pm

    I love banana bread and this combination sounds delicious. I've never tried matcha and blueberry and banana before and now have the urge to bake a banana bread!

  14. lita says

    24 January 2016 at 5:52 pm

    Can I use the same temperature on a fan oven

  15. Choclette Blogger says

    3 February 2016 at 9:08 pm

    Love a good matcha cake and I'm sure the additional banana was fine 😉

    We used to have an annual pilgrimage to The Big Smoke to see a ballet or the opera when I was young. I always loved the ballet, but found the opera could be just a little bit tedious.

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About Belleau Kitchen

My name is Dominic, I am a cook, food writer and creative event producer. I write the food blog Belleau Kitchen and also write a monthly recipe column for Lincolnshire Life Magazine and Good Taste Magazine. I also run creative event production company The Persuaders, producing global events for brands since 1997. I am based both in the small village of Belleau in Lincolnshire and the smaller village of London! Read More…

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