banana, matcha and blueberry loaf

… last night The Viking and I went to the ballet to see the Matthew Bourne production of Sleeping Beauty.  It was both magical and daft at the same time.  Despite our creative predilection neither of us had been to the ballet before and so I thought i’d remedy this by buying tickets as a Christmas gift and I thought i’d start with a bit of modern ballet and a classic fairy tale so that we weren’t too overwhelmed. It was undoubtably stunning, the sets and the music was beautiful and I loved the fact that they set it all in Edwardian times with a clever twist at the end and so our creative juices are most definitely flowing… but it was also just a little bit daft.  We now both feel that we ought to go and see the classic version too, just to see a more traditional take on things.  Either way, it’s quite incredible how, with our offices in the heart of theatre-land in the West End of London, we still barely go to the theatre.  Quite shocking really as we both enjoy it so much when we do go.  I love seeing how creative the stage sets and costumes are which always inspires me in work.  The theatre is quite a restricting box and so it always amazes me how brilliantly inventive the creative teams are that work out the mechanics of moving sets, perspective, lighting and scenery.  Our work at The Persuaders is all about convincing an audience to suspend belief and buy into an experience that will hopefully influence their buying decisions and so any kind of inspiration is always welcome.

banana, matcha and blueberry loaf
I was reminded last week of the power of banana bread by lovely Karen from Lavender and Lovage who made a divine banana bread for my Simply Eggcellent link-up.  Her banana bread is exactly that, a banana bread.  Gloriously dense and moist with a tight enough crumb to slather each slice in butter, exactly how my grandma Sylvia would have served it at tea time on a Sunday.  My banana bread on the other hand is much more of a cake made in a loaf tin.  It’s my mums recipe handed down to her from my step-dads mother… it’s a great cake and freezes brilliantly which is always handy and it’s also very adaptable.  You can add anything to it to change it up a bit depending on what you have in or what needs using up… i’ve used some matcha powder which works surprisingly well with the banana and the last few blueberries left over from our morning juicing ritual and it’s all rather lovely.

i’ve used two small loaf tins but this works easily well in a single large 2lb loaf tin too.

or the cake
8oz self-raising flour
4oz butter or margarine
4oz soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons matcha powder
2 ripe bananas – mashed
a handful of blueberries
2 large eggs – beaten
a little milk to slacken

pre-heat the oven to 180C

grease and line your tin with parchment paper… I simply cut a long strip of paper to the width of the tin and lay it along the bottom so it has some flaps hanging over the ends

place the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl and crumble together with your hands, sprinkle in the matcha and stir

pour over the mashed bananas and beaten eggs and then beat it all together with a wooden spoon, it will quickly loosen nicely, then stir in the blueberries

pour into your tin or tins, smooth over the top and bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean

i’m linking this recipe to Inheritance Recipes hosted by Coffee and Vanilla and Pebble Soup

it’s  also going over to the Love Cake link-up hosted by Jibber Jabber

eat and of course, enjoy!