While The Lad & I have been co-habitating for sometime now, this week brought with it the moment our stuff had to also co-habitate. Moving all of my furniture, many clothes and many more shoes, jewellery and other assorted accessories into the house The Lad’s shares with a mate, has meant that beloved old commemorative polo shirts, toy model cars and similar boy accoutrements have been boxed up and shifted to the spare room.
Don’t worry, I’ve also downsized to help the squeeze in – three pairs of shoes and a couple of tees, dresses and other bits will be soon hitting the shelves at the local Salvo’s op-shop! In a bid to soften the blow of cushions entering The Lad’s man cave, I not only put his big trophies on display atop the bookshelf, I also made his favourite: this banana bread, subtly spiked with orange zest.
I’ve seen some criticism of this recipe on the interwebs due to people’s dislike of the orange factor but it’s the orange flavour that give it so much cred in this house. In tonight’s brew, I went against the recipe & also added a little handful of shredded coconut. I’ll totally do it next time too – big thumbs up.
Orange-spiked Banana Bread
(Recipe slightly adapted from Marie Claire’s Kitchen by Michele Cranston – seriously my bible in the kitchen)
Ingredients
- 90g softened butter
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups of plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 large ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- Once zested, slice & reserve the orange
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius & get a loaf tin ready. I used a silicon loaf pan – my pick for non-stick
- Throw all the ingredients except the reserved decorative orange slices in a mixing bowl & combine. I’m old school & prefer a wooden spoon – the original recipe recommends a food processor but whatevs you got, I say!
- Once combined, pour into the loaf pan and fan your decorative orange slices across the top. I baked this loaf covered with foil for about half the cooking time to keep the oranges from going too toasty around the edges.
- Place in the oven for one hour, or until an inserted skewer/knife/poker-of-some-sort comes out clean.
