Recipe

Banana bread with honeycomb butter

This gorgeous recipe is from AEG Ambassador and one of Australia's top chefs, Mark Best. It's wonderfully moist, sweet and moreish. Enjoy a big slice with a dollop of your homemade honeycomb butter.

Feb 10, 2016 1:27am
  • 25 mins preparation
  • 1 hr cooking
  • Makes 2 large_piece
    • Print
    Print

Ingredients

Honeycomb butter
  • 565 gram caster sugar
  • 65 gram honey
  • 100 millilitre water
  • 20 gram bicarbonate of soda
  • 250 gram unsalted butter, at room temperature
Banana bread
  • 250 gram unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1cm cubes
  • 1 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 4 eggs (55g each), at room temperature
  • 1 cinnamon quill
  • 1 star anise
  • 2 whole cloves
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns
  • 300 gram plain flour
  • 3 teaspoon baking powder
  • 6 ripe bananas

Method

Honeycomb butter
  • 1
    Make honeycomb butter: Line a deep oven tray with parchment paper. Heat the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan on the stove. Using a candy thermometer, keep saucepan over heat until it reaches a boiling point of 150°C.
  • 2
    Let the scalding sugar subside until the bubbles slow right down. With a whisk on hand, sift the bicarb over the sugar mixture and whisk to incorporate.
  • 3
    Once the honeycomb has stopped expanding (about 15 seconds) pour into the lined oven tray and set aside to cool.
  • 4
    Once cooled, crumb of the honeycomb and fold through the butter then set aside.
Banana bread
  • 5
    Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-forced). Neatly line two loaf tins with baking paper.
  • 6
    Add butter and sugar to electric mixer bowl. Cream the sugar and butter on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as required, until incorporated and the batter is smooth.
  • 7
    In a spice grinder, blend the spices to a fine powder and sift into the flour with the baking powder.
  • 8
    Fold into the butter, sugar and egg mixture at a time, mixing as little as possible to get the desired result. (The batter should be smooth with all ingredients completely incorporated.)
  • 9
    Chop the banana roughly and gently fold through the mixture. Distribute the mixture evenly between the two tins, tap firmly on the bench to remove any air pockets.
  • 10
    Bake for 55 minutes then rest for 5 minutes in the tins before turning out onto a rack. Cool slightly before serving with honeycomb butter.

Notes

This banana bread will freeze well as a whole, or in individual slices, which can be warmed through in a toaster. This recipe will yield two loaves.

The Latest from Food To Love