Caramelised Banana Cake with a Lime Twist

When the fruit bowl begins to smell a little of very ripe bananas it’s time to seize the banana cake window. This is my favourite banana cake of all time, dark, satisfyingly moist and surprisingly wholesome. It’s based on a popular Guardian recipe, but I’ve taken the dairy out and, as the title implies, I’ve given it a fragrant lime twist.

To get started you’re going to need:

For the cake:

150g caster sugar
2 large very ripe bananas chopped in pieces
1 tbsp soya spread
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract
175ml sunflower oil
100g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
50ml plain soya yogurt
Zest and juice of 1 lime
150g plain flour
75g rye flour
2 level tsp mixed spice
2 level tsp baking powder
½ level tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the icing:

75g soya spread,
300g icing sugar
2T soya milk
Juice and zest of one lime

Now let’s bake!

• Pre-heat oven to 180°C
• Line a baking tray – I like making this cake in a 20cm square tin as the resulting consistency of the cake is simply perfect




• Use a large frying pan to make the caramel sauce: mix the caster sugar with about 25ml of cold water. Stir together and bring to the boil, and, cooking over a high heat, continue stirring until the mixture begins to darken in colour



• Add the soya spread, and vanilla and banana. Continue cooking until the banana pieces have broken down and the mixture has thickened up substantially. Spoon on to a plate and leave to cool




• Beat the light brown sugar with the sunflower oil and eggs until thick and slightly aerated (little bubbles will appear on the surface).



• Beat in the banana mixture, the yogurt and the lime zest and juice.
• In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients: flours, spice, baking powder and soda. You may want to sift more than once, to ensure that the ingredients are well mixed together. The large flakes of rye bran won’t go through the sieve, so just tip them in at the end and stir through.
• Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just incorporated.
• Pour into the baking tin and bake for around 40 minutes (this will depend on your oven and on the size of tin you use). The top should bounce back when gently pressed. Cool cake on rack.

To make the icing:

• Whisk together 75g soya spread, 300g icing sugar and 2T soya milk, juice and zest of one lime. I got a little carried away and also added green food colouring. You can judge the results for yourself.

• Once cake has cooled, cut in half and ice in the middle and on top.