Blair’s Banana Cake With Passionfruit Icing

I made this cake for my son Blair for every one of his 29 happy years and do it each year on his birthday since we lost him to Acute Myleoid Leukaemia.

The profit from sales of this cake tin go to the Blair Milan Memorial Scholarship in association with Charles Sturt University.

The insert in this tin, making a big donut shape, is in memory of a tin my Mum had and also ensures even cooking with no soggy middle.

Serves 12+
Preparation 25 mins
Cooking 50 mins

INGREDIENTS
150 g butter, softened
1 1/3 cups (275g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 ¼ cups (185g) plain flour
¾ cup (110g) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup mashed banana (4 small or 3 large bananas)
2 tablespoons (40 ml) milk

Passionfruit Icing
1 cup (160 g) icing sugar mixture
2 teaspoons soft butter or margarine
1 tablespoon passionfruit pulp (1 large passionfruit)

METHOD
1 Preheat the oven to moderate (180’C). Grease Blair’s 23cm round cake tin with special ring insert.
2 Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined.
3 Stir in the sifted dry ingredients then the banana and milk. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake in a moderate oven for about 50 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Passionfruit Icing
1 Sift the icing sugar into a heatproof bowl.
2 Stir in the butter and passionfruit to form a firm paste.
3 Stir the icing over a pan of simmering water (or microwave on HIGH for about 20 seconds) until the icing is a pouring consistency.
4 Use immediately and spoon over the cooled cake, allow to set.

Lyndey’s note: over-ripe bananas are perfect for this recipe. Whenever I have any bananas going brown, I throw them in the freezer until next time I want to make this banana cake.