My Nutty Banoffee Fairtrade Cake Creation

So we’re coming to the end of Fairtrade Fortnight.
I celebrated the start of the two weeks with Fairtrade wine and I am seeing it out with cake-it’s a hard life.
I am still on my diet so I will be just looking at said cake and enjoying watching other people eat it having a very small sliver.

Just because the fortnight is drawing to a close, it doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels and forget Fairtrade even existed.
There are people in this world still working in terrible conditions for very little money just to bring you your morning coffee or your chocolate bar. Not to mention the bananas that your children eat.

So rather than berate you until you sign this petition: http://foncho.fairtrade.org.uk/ (please class yourself as berated), I am being very kind and sharing my Fairtrade recipe for Nutty Banoffee cake.

Nutty because, let’s face it, being a but nuts makes life more interesting but really, because it contains bonefide Fairtrade nuts from the amazing people at Liberation Nuts.

Liberation Foods was set up in 2007 to help small-scale nut farmers gain access to UK and international nut markets.
Liberation purchases its nuts from these co-operatives on Fairtrade terms, which means they always pay at least the Fairtrade minimum for nuts. They also have comedian, Harry Hill as an ambassador so I’m sure they won’t mind me saying, they must all be a bit nuts too.

So, the best bit, the Nutty Banana Nut Cake. recipe
You will need:

ingredients

8oz Fairtrade Caster Sugar
8oz Wholemeal flour
8oz butter or butter alternative-margerine etc
1 tsp baking powder

1tsp Fairtrade cocoa (optional)
4 Fairtrade eggs (ok they are from my hens who get a great ‘corn’ price for their eggs)
1tsp cinamon (optional)
3 Fairtrade bananas
2tbsps milk or cream
100g of Fairtrade nuts. I used peanuts but you can swap these for a Fairly traded nut equivalent of your choice.

For the filling: A can of consensed milk,
1 Fairtrade Banana
Some Fairtrade nuts retained from the 100g above.

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line and grease two 8-inch baking tins (I use frylite spray for greasing).

2014-03-06 11.28.46

Chop your peanuts, You can use a food processor but I prefer bigger chunks in my mix and, to be fair, hate washing it so I did it by hand with a knife. Plus, I feel like a celebrity chef when I’m chopping nuts with a knife. I have no idea why.

2014-03-07 17.10.21

Sieve the flour into a bowl. I used a strong wholemeal bread flour so I sieved it a few times.
Add the Fairtrade sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder and cinnamon and mix with an electric mixer.

banana cream

In another bowl, chop the banana and add the cream and mix with the electric mixer. Add the banana to the cake mix and give it another blast with the mixer.

add nuts

Add the chopped nutsย and fold into the mixture.

Divide mixture between the two tins and bake for 20 minutes on two shelves then swap over for the remaining 15-20 minutes.
Please note, you know your own oven. During the last 15-20 minutes, please check your cake. You will know it is done when it is just browning around the edges or, a skewer comes out clean.

2014-03-07 18.08.31

Allow to cool in tins for ten minutes, then turn out onto wire wrack to cool completely.

Next the dulce de leche. Now, I googled this to get it right and there are many, many ways to do this. The old fashioned ways on the hob in a pan of water or in the oven take hours so, in true cutting-corners style, I choose the microwave option.

2014-03-07 18.30.37

You blast it in two-minute intervals on a medium setting and whisk in between until a) it has turned a toffee colour or b) it has been cooked for at least eight minutes.
Please make sure you whisk the mixture whilst wearing an oven glove as it is very, very hot.

At eight minutes, I chopped in another banana (the heat of the dulce de leche cooked this banana-yum).

Allow to cool. Put a small amount between the cakes (enough to cover one half of cake) and place on top of each other. Then spread the rest of the gooey, sticky loveliness on the top of the cake and sprinkle some more Fairtrade nuts (I did chop these a little finer).

finished cake

So there you go. My Nutty Banoffee Cake.

I hope you try it out.

Please, please, continue to buy Fairtrade products throughout the year. They make such a difference to people all around the world.
Supermarkets, especially Sainsburys, have the largest range of Fairtrade products so it makes it easier for people like me to help whilst doing the weekly food shop.

This recipe is an entry into the Liberation Nuts Banana and Nut Bakeoff during Fairtrade Fornight.
If I win, I get a nutty hamper. How exciting would that be?

You know what though? The real winners of Fairtrade Fortnight are the farmers and producers which you help by buying their Fairtrade products.

We're going on an adventure

10 Comments

  1. Looks lovely. My last attempt at anything banana related was a disaster so the only way is up! x

  2. I’ve really enjoyed your fairtrade posts. I’ve signed the petition and shared. The cake looks divine a well. I love banana bread but this looks sooo good.

  3. Pingback: click here

Leave a Reply to farmerswifeandmummy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *