Some of our habits and associations stay with us; we don't feel any need to reorient or challenge them. Others, we may adjust or even forge new lines of thinking that, through an often uncomfortable or difficult process, may approach intrinsicality. Now, this narrative could be used to undertake a revealing dissection of the psyche and social habit, however I have my mind on something slightly more benign (this is a food blog after all; the second post, might I add).
Take, for example, Autumn. For a long time, I've associated this season with comfort and softness, whether or not that is reflected within my life experiences. For example, sitting in a Starbucks as I type this with a flat white, gentle music and a cloudily-restrained glow of sun seems somehow connected to the turning of the leaves, though with a rational head I'm sure that's not how seasonality works. But, a stressful day in the office? I have a much easier time putting it down to extraneous circumstance (which, I might be less inclined to do in the Summer). Clearly, this is a tenuous grasp of reason, but at the same time I don't think there is much of a reason to challenge this?
However, there is also the flip-side in which habitual behaviour is challenged, sometimes unconsciously. I started baking around the time I finished my undergraduate degree, just under three and a half years ago now (yes, that gets weirder with every year that goes by). While I was at university I cooked a lot and discovered the extent to which I enjoyed it, but never once baked.
I had absorbed the idea that baking required technical precision to the extreme, especially when compared to the flexibility of cooking. It was as if I thought some kind of council of heat-resistant baking spirits would convene within the oven after you put a cake in there to bake and perform some kind of audit; if the quantities of required ingredients were marginally off-ratio, then you wouldn't receive their sanction and the process would be unsuccessful. Clearly, absurd, but so was the prohibitive apprehension I felt.
Though, saying that, I couldn't say what changed; I can't recall what my first bake was, but I remember that it must have been fine. Reading cookbooks which included recipes for cakes, breads, pastries (okay, these still send frissons of fear cascading down my spine) must have made me curious to try, and given how I'd always been attracted to honesty in food writers, I felt like I was in safe hands. Eventually, an uneasy relationship with baking was forged.
While I could follow a recipe, however, I didn't expect anything to become intuitive, or to have a "stock recipe" that I could make over and over. Now, that doesn't mean that I have quantities or method committed to memory, but it does mean that I feel comfortable enough to estimate the quantities needed to make something and introduce different ingredients into the mix; that came in the form of banana bread.
In reality, this isn't surprising. Banana bread is fairly simple to put together (simplicity? in baking? 22 year-old me is scowling with scepticism) and also comfortingly Autumnal - yes, that concept underpins all of this! So, the sequence here was clear; comfort to eat begets (eventual) comfort to make, which eventually begets the comfort to experiment. And, that, is the protracted neural pathway which brought me to this intuitive creation.
Maple & Pecan Banana Bread
This is the kind of recipe which could have only been conceived during Autumn, or within a haze of indignant Autumnal nostalgia. When I did a cursory Google search about this, I found an article from Time magazine (link here) with a headline that proclaimed the maple & pecan combo as the "new Fall flavour"; the successor to the ubiquitous pumpkin spice. However, this puzzled me - since when is maple and pecan new? How is pumpkin spice the ancestor in this situation? I have many questions that I don't think are going to be resolved here! All I remember is being aware of the union of maple and pecan from a very young age.
Something that bothers me slightly about banana bread discourse, is the idea that it is made for the sole purpose of avoiding waste - a laudatory initiative, but I feel this overlooks two important conditions:
Banana bread is delicious. When I have made banana bread, it is simply because I've wanted banana bread. The narrative around it makes it seem as if it is baked through circumstance, rather than being the product of desire.
Bananas in their raw form are controversial. However, banana bread seems to win over both sides of the great banana schism, with only the true polemics remaining unswayed. Not every banana bread lover will necessarily have ripe bananas to hand.
Staying with the second point, a lot is said about the need of the banana to be overripe; most commonly it is said that the riper the banana, the better contributor it will be. This isn't necessarily untrue - a riper banana will produce a smoother mixture. The problem here is that ripe bananas aren't something can always be easily bought. If you are part of the demographic who doesn't often have ripe bananas to hand then stick with this; I have a solution for you.
Ingredients & Method
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 55-60 minutes
Loaf
100 g of unsalted butter
130 g of caster sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe or softened bananas (see below for softening method)
225 g of self-raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
3 tbsp of maple syrup
50 g of chopped and toasted pecans
Icing
90 g of mascarpone
2-3 tsp of maple syrup
1/2 tsp of salt
10-15 pecans (to decorate)
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (355 degrees Fahrenheit). Grease and line a medium-sized loaf tin and set aside.
Measure out your pecans and chop them into small pieces before placing them into a frying pan or a skillet. Dry fry the pecans for 5 minutes to bring out a toasty aroma, before setting aside to cool.
Take your bananas and use a fork to mash them into a paste. If your bananas aren't ripe then microwave them for sixty seconds with the skin unpeeled. This will make the bananas soft enough to incorporate smoothly into the rest of the mix. If microwaving the bananas, leave in the fridge after mashing so they aren't still hot when you mix everything else together.
Measure out the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and maple syrup into a bowl, and follow with the cooled banana and the chopped pecans. Mix for about 1-2 minutes or until combined to form your cake batter. This is known as an "all-in-one" method, and it reduces the amount that the cake mix needs to be stirred, thereby reducing the aeration of the cake. Banana loaves have a fairly dense texture, so this should minimise the amount of air that is introduced to the mix.
Once the ingredients have been completely combined, pour the batter into the greased and lined loaf tin, making sure the top of the cake is smooth. Put in the oven and bake. After 55 minutes bring the loaf out, insert a clean butter knife into the centre of the cake; if the knife comes out clean then the cake is done. If not, give it another five minutes. If in doubt, remember that a slightly under-baked banana loaf is better than a slightly over-baked one.
The load should be a shade darker than golden brown, mildly domed and have a somewhat tectonic crack running down the middle.
Leave to cool in the tin for 3-5 minutes before running a butter knife down the sides and turning out on to a cooling rack. The temperature inside of the cake will ensure that it will still be cooking for a couple of minutes after being removed from the oven, hence why it is best not to remove from the tin immediately.
While the cake is cooling on the rack, start making the icing for the top of the cake. Combine mascarpone, maple syrup and 1/4 of a tsp of salt into a bowl. Taste the mixture, and add another 1/4 of a tsp of salt if you think it calls for it. Whisk the mixture for 3-5 minutes until it has stiffened and increased in volume.
Once the cake has cooled completely, spread the mascarpone mixture thickly on to the loaf and smooth out with the back of a knife. It is very important to wait until the loaf has cooled to room temperature, otherwise the icing may melt and run off. Once the cake is iced, take your whole pecans and arrange them on to the loaf however you wish! This cake is best stored in the fridge.
Adjustments
It is not necessary to ice the cake if you would prefer to eat it plain. Banana bread without icing can also be toasted and served warm with butter or marmalade (or, whatever topping you'd like really!)
The mascarpone could be replaced with whipping cream, however I would suggest you half the quantity of maple syrup.
If you cannot find pecans, walnuts would be a very similar replacement and pair well with the flavour of maple.
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