This is another way of using up those pesky overripe bananas, but with a luxurious (and slightly tropical) result. The finished cake is reminiscent of deluxe carrot cake, especially with the cinnamon and cream-cheese frosting, but is actually made with bananas and tinned pineapple.

Ingredients:

• 300g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 300ml sunflower oil
• 270g peeled bananas, mashed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g drained tinned pineapple (chopped)
• 100g pecan or walnuts (chopped)

To Decorate:

• Cream cheese frosting (600g icing sugar, 100g butter, 250g cream cheese)
• Dusting of ground cinnamon
• Half pecan or walnuts

Heat the oven to 170 degrees C (325 F, Gas 3)

Mix the sugar, eggs, oil, banana and cinnamon in a mixer then ad the flour. bicarb, salt and vanilla and mix further.

Stir in the pineapple and pecan nuts.

Pour into lined cake tins. I used 2 x 20cm cake tins which I baked for 40 minutes. The recipe suggests you split between 3 x 20cm cake tins and base for 20-25 minutes, but I didn’t have 3 cake tins!

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins a little before turning onto a wire rack and leaving to go cold.

Once cold sandwich the cake with the cream cheese frosting and then spread the remaining frosting all over the outside decorating with cinnamon and pecans.

The original recipe is from the fabulous Hummingbird Baker Cookbook.