Recipes

Banana and Carrot Bread with Orange and Maple Syrup Icing

Embrace the Autumnal feeling and cozy up inside with this deliciously simple banana and carrot bread with orange and maple syrup icing. Adding the carrots brings some lovely natural sweetness into the bake and enhances the fluffy texture. With the October break coming up, it is also a wonderful way to sneak some undectectable vegetables into your kids – if you can bring yourself to share!

Let the smell of fresh baking fill your home, best enjoyed with a cup of tea and a little relaxation.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil to grease

115g unsalted butter, softened

140g soft dark brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 small – medium, ripe bananas weighing approximately 150g in total, mashed with a fork

140g grated raw carrot

250g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ tsp mixed spice

Pinch salt

100mls full fat natural yogurt or Greek yogurt

For the icing:

30g unsalted butter, softened

100g full fat cream cheese

30g icing sugar, sifted

Grated zest of ½ orange

2 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Line the base of a 900g loaf tin with parchment paper cut to fit and grease the sides with a little vegetable oil or use a ready-made parchment paper loaf tin liner. Preheat the oven to 180C/ Fan oven 160C/Gas mark 4.
  2. Cream the butter until soft and add the sugar. Beat well together until the mixture has lightened in colour and is soft and creamy.
  3. Add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract, mashed bananas and carrot.
  4. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and salt together and stir carefully into the cake mixture. Mix in the yogurt and pour into the prepared loaf tin.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 -55 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer or sharp knife is inserted into the centre and comes out with no uncooked cake mixture on it.
  6. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 15 minutes. Then remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
  7. Meanwhile make the icing: beat the butter until smooth and add the cream cheese and icing sugar. Mix very well to ensure there are no lumps. Stir in the orange zest and a scant tablespoon of maple syrup. Taste and add more icing sugar if necessary.
  8. Once the cake is cold spread the icing on the top and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.

Now enjoy!

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