Banana & pecan fudge loaf

This was a big hit in the staffroom today and was just what we needed to keep us going through the craziness of working in a school as Christmas approaches! I had been given lots of bananas that were past their best so investigated a whole host of banana cake recipes. I found this one on the BBC Good Food website and thought it would make a change from traditional banana bread. It has a very moist texture and is quick and easy to make. The original recipe uses chewy toffees but I had some fudge that needed using up so swapped the toffee for fudge. You can also swap the toffee yogurt for fudge yogurt depending on what you can find in the shops. I also didn’t have the exact amounts of pecans or fudge but it still worked just as well. You will need a 900g (2lb) loaf tin.

Ingredients:

2 -3 ripe bananas (mashed, about 200g peeled weight)
2 medium eggs (beaten)
100g butter (melted)
100g toffee or fudge yogurt
100g light muscovado sugar
200g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
100g pecans (roughly chopped)
150g chewy toffees or fudge (roughly chopped)

Method:
1) Heat the oven to 160C/Fan 140C/Gas 3. Butter and line the base of a 900g loaf tin.
2) Mix together the bananas, eggs, butter, yogurt and sugar, until well combined.

3) Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the mixture, then fold in three-quarters of the pecan nuts and half the toffees.

4) Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the top. Sprinkle on the remaining nuts and toffees.

5) Bake for 50-55 mins until the loaf is risen and feels springy. Cool in the tin, then remove and peel off the lining. The loaf will keep, wrapped, in an airtight container, for up to 3-4 days (if it lasts that long!)