Banana bread

**Serves 10**

**Preparation:** 15 minutes
**Cooking time:** 45 minutes - 1 hour

This is one of those recipes that curdles as soon as you add the eggs but comes out fine in the end. I am told that the only negative is that the cake is less light at the end - honestly they come out light enough and nobody that has tasted this cake has ever said it is dense or heavy so don't worry.

Ingredients
115g butter, softened
140g light muscovado sugar
3 ripe bananas
½ lemon, zest only
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp sour cream
2 eggs
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g pecans, take out 5 whole ones and chop the rest, I like the pieces to be different sizes

Equipment
Loaf tin

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c.

Grease and line your loaf tin.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar.

In a separate bowl mash the bananas and add the lemon zest and vanilla essence and thoroughly stir through then add the sour cream.

Add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar mix and mix fully between each egg. Be warned that the mixture may curdle at some point shortly but don't worry, it will come out fine in the end.

Add the banana mixture and again thoroughly mix. Take the whole pecans and 1 tbsp of the chopped pecans out and put to one side. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb and the remaining pecans and fold through.

Tip the batter into the loaf tin and top with your remaining pecans. Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour.