Two Dead Bananas

There comes a time, my little wombats, in everyone’s life, when you are left with two bananas which are, shall we say, ‘long in the tooth’ and your ‘go-to’ dead banana recipe calls for three and then, where are you?

Well, for one thing, you are there with two dead bananas and either you give up the ghost and pitch them into the compost heap or, you start thinking about things to do with said objects.

In my case, I decided that there had to be a better way to deal with two bananas when I needed three. And it was not going to be to substitute a third of a cup of apple sauce or some such weeny thing. So, I looked at all sorts of recipes and everyone has this three-banana fetish. I mean, seriously people. Has no one ever ended up with only two?

In any case, here is what I came up with tonight. I needed a fast little something sort of sweet for after dinner and had a limited number of options in the cupboard, yet at the same time knowing that over-ripe bananas can carry their own, taste-wise, in baked goods and a lot of sins can be masked with chocolate.

Two Dead Bananas Chocolate Loaf Cake
Ingredients:
Two old bananas, mushed up
3/4 cup of olive oil (or other good vegetable oil – not corn or soy, please, people)
2/3 cup of sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
flour (either 1 1/2 cups of cake flour or 1 cup of all purpose)
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of baking cocoa
1/2 cup of Greek (or other plain) yoghurt
Possibly: orange or other sort of juice to thin things down if you need liquid
1 loaf pan, greased

In a bowl, put:
Olive oil, the eggs, the vanilla and the yoghurt and beat together. Add the mushed up bananas.
Sieve together the flour, the baking cocoa and the baking soda.
Add, bit by bit, the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. You should end up with a batter that is a little bit thinner than banana or other quick bread batter. If it is too thick, add a little bit of juice until it comes to the consistency that clumps off the mixer beaters.

Put batter into the loaf pan. Put pan into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes, until the top is humped up, cracked and the center is firm. Take out and cool on a rack. Turn out onto a plate and serve.

This needs nothing. No frosting, no meddling with cherry pie filling or any of that truck. Just plain, moist, unbelievably great smelling and tasting cake with a wonderful crumb. If you can’t serve something without any sort of decoration, sieve a bit of confectioner’s sugar over the top before you start slicing it.