We were staying at our friend Seva's house just south of Cairns and her neighbour had given her a pile of beautiful bananas from their tree, they sat golden and ripening in Seva's fruit bowl.
On her way out the door to work Seva said, "Take as many bananas as you like". Banana bread came to mind, but really banana bread is banana cake isn't it? We've talked about this before.
River, Sol and I tried settling into our morning at Seva's house while Pete took the car in to be serviced before we headed north to Hopevale where Pete would be working with Elders and community leaders on the Culture is Life project.
I say tried to settle in because River was tired and grumpy and of course Sol had picked up on that and they were niggling each other no end.
By 8.30am I was sitting at the table with them and we were writing up a list of rules that included the obvious ones like no hitting and name calling. It was going to be a long day.
They then decided to ask if they could have some of the chocolate in Seva's fridge. That would be a "No". I had already mentioned that we'd bake banana cake later in the day, "Can we put chocolate on top?" Sol asked hopefully.
I reminded them that the chocolate in the fridge wasn't ours but that depending on how their behaviour went for the rest of the morning when we walked to the local shops perhaps we could buy some chocolate for the cake.
No, not a proud moment bribing my children to behave with the lure of chocolate chips but there you have it, I'm being honest!
Once we were out of the house they were different children. Not because of the prospect of chocolate but because they were outside burning off their energy, running along the street, playing at the park, climbing, swinging, more running. Just as it should be. Sigh of relief from me.
And so for afternoon tea, we made this decadent little delight that is decidedly cake not bread.
Enjoy!
Banana cake with chocolate chips
Ingredients
1 cup of white spelt flour
1 cup of buckwheat flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
2 bananas mashed
2 eggs whisked
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
To make
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line a loaf tin with baking paper
- In a large mixing bowl place spelt flour, buckwheat flour and baking powder stir to combine
- Add in all other ingredients and stir until combined
- Pour batter into tin
- Bake for 45 minutes or until golden and when a skewer is inserted it comes out clean
Ah yes, one of those days. It's indeed often best, something I find here as well, to get out of the house in those moments. Not just for their possibilities to burn up some energy, but to all get some new perspective in our minds. Refreshing :-)
ReplyDeleteThe cake looks delicious!
You are so right about the new perspective Karin, our outing became a whole story in itself that I will write about here soon. Thanks for stopping by, I just popped over to your blog beautiful space you have created! Xx
ReplyDeleteBanana cake, I love your honesty, Nikki. It is what makes you such a great mama and what gives you your beautiful lightness of spirit. I am loving your adventures, still dreaming of warmer weather. We have even looked into going to Far North Queensland for a few days to get away. No luck with finding anything just yet, but I keep putting it out there to the universe. xxx
ReplyDeleteAww thanks Olga x Oh keep putting it out there, the weather and landscape in FNQ is stunning. The sun makes me feel so good! My fingers are crossed for you xx
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