Banana Bread

image courtesy of keepitsweetblog.com

I have always been fond of banana bread, but have always been under the impression of its more of a cake than bread. It has often raised discussion (sometimes heated) amongst the catering community. In retrospect all cakes are a form of bread, and such ill have to go along with it. The smell of banana bread when cooking / cooling has been known to drive people to distraction - and i used to use this to my advantage. I would have a small amount prepared to cool down in the restaurant and bar area, and people would buy it in droves. Heres the recipe i used to use, i promise that you will love it. Its food that will make you smile, again and again.

You will need:

1 Loaf tin greased and lined with silicone

250gk of self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of bicard of soda
100g of butter softened
18g caster sugar
2 eggs
250g kilo of banana, peeled and crushed
Demerara sugar

The doing bit:

Sieve flour, bicarb and baking powder

Cream together butter and sugar until white

Add the eggs one by one and with each egg add a little flour

Add the banana

Fold in the flour mix

Place in the loaf tin, sprinkle the top with Demerara sugar


Bake in a moderate oven (about 180C) until when pierced with a inkef, the blade comes out clean.

Allow to cool and devour. Its a rather beautiful thing warm.

Creme Brulee

image courtesy of bbcgoodfood.com

Probably one of the most frequent of custard desserts present on any menu is the creme brulee. It literally means "toasted cream" and is a good "vehicle" dessert platform for a variety of flavours, from simple fruit additions to diverse spice blends and other subtle infusions such as cardomom, cloves, and bay (thinking along the lines of bechamel).

You will need


750g of Double cream
15 eggs yolks
120g of Caster sugar
2 Vanilla beans split (or vanilla essence)

Cream the sugar and egg yolks till pale

Add cream and vanilla beans (or essence)

Cook the mixture out in a bain marie, whisk for 20 minutes until thick.

Once thick, pour into ramekins dishes and set in the fridge

Glaze with icing sugar and a sprinkling of water

This mix can be blended with bayleaf, these to be introduced at cook out stage

before serving toast the sugar on the top with a blowtorch to create a crunchy glaze. Alternatively they can be placed under a hot grill :)

Ideally they are well served with tuile, or similar wafer or biscuit for dipping value.