James Martin Banana Cake

James Martin’s banana cake blends ripe bananas with maple syrup into a smooth purée, folds it through a creamed butter-and-sugar batter with chopped pecans, bakes it in a springform tin at 170°C (150°C fan, gas 3) for 45-60 minutes, then glazes it with a boiled-down maple cream. It serves six to eight.

The recipe comes from BBC’s Home Comforts, and it’s a proper creamed cake rather than a one-bowl banana bread. Martin uses a food processor to purée the bananas with maple syrup into a paste, which distributes their flavour and moisture evenly through the batter. The pecans go in two stages: three-quarters folded through and the rest scattered on top for crunch.

The maple-cream glaze is the finishing touch that separates this from a plain banana loaf. You boil the remaining maple syrup with double cream for a few minutes until it thickens, cool it, then pour it over the cake so it drips down the sides. It sets into a glossy, fudgy coating that adds richness without being a full icing.

James Martin Banana Cake

Recipe by Pinch Perfect

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6-8

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

Calories

740

kcal

Total time

1

hour 

20

minutes

James Martin’s banana and maple syrup cake from BBC’s Home Comforts: a creamed sponge with blitzed banana purée and pecans, glazed with boiled maple cream. A proper teatime cake, not a loaf. Serves six to eight.

Ingredients

• 200g/7oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

• 400g/14oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

• 4 ripe bananas, peeled

• 200ml/7fl oz maple syrup

• 25-50ml/1-2fl oz milk (optional)

• 150g/5¼oz caster sugar

• 4 free-range eggs

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 100g/3½oz pecan nuts, roughly chopped

• 200ml/7fl oz double cream

Directions

• Prepare the tin:Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas 3. Grease a 23cm springform tin with butter, add a tablespoon of flour and tip to coat the base and sides. Shake out the excess.
• Blend the bananas:Blitz the bananas in a food processor until roughly chopped, add 75ml of the maple syrup and blend to a smooth paste. Add up to 50ml of milk if needed for a smoother consistency.
• Cream the batter:Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until fully incorporated.
• Fold:Add the baking powder, flour, banana purée and three-quarters of the pecans. Gently fold together until just combined.
• Bake:Spoon into the tin, tap the base on the worktop a couple of times to settle the mixture, and scatter the remaining pecans over the top. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Make the glaze:Bring the cream and remaining maple syrup to the boil in a saucepan. Boil for 3-5 minutes until slightly thickened, then cool completely.
• Finish:Spread the cooled maple glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip slightly down the sides. Leave for 10 minutes, then slice.

FAQs

How is this different from a banana bread?

It’s a proper creamed cake rather than a quick-mix loaf. Banana bread typically melts the butter, stirs everything together in one bowl and goes straight into a loaf tin, giving a denser, more bread-like crumb. Martin creams the butter and sugar first, then beats in the eggs one at a time, which aerates the batter into a lighter, more cake-like sponge.

The maple-cream glaze on top seals the deal. A banana bread is usually eaten plain or with butter, while this sits on a cake stand and gets sliced at the table. The pecans in and on top, plus the springform tin and the dripping glaze, all say teatime cake rather than morning toast.

Why blend the bananas into a purée?

So the banana flavour distributes evenly through the whole batter rather than sitting in lumps. Mashing by hand always leaves some chunks, which is fine for a rustic banana bread but wrong for a smooth cake crumb. The food processor takes them to a paste with the maple syrup in seconds.

The optional splash of milk loosens the purée if your bananas are particularly thick and starchy, which happens when they’re not quite ripe enough. Really black, overripe bananas will blend to a thin, sweet paste on their own, so you probably won’t need the milk. As with any banana bake, the riper, the better.

Can I use walnuts instead of pecans?

Yes. Walnuts are the most common swap and bring a slightly more bitter, earthier flavour than pecans, which are sweeter and butterier. Either works well with the banana and maple. If you want a nut-free cake, leave them out entirely and the batter is still perfectly good, just without the crunch.

Martin folds three-quarters of the chopped nuts through the batter and scatters the rest on top, which gives you texture in every slice plus a visible nut topping that browns in the oven. Keep the pieces roughly chopped rather than ground, since you want crunch, not a nut-meal density.

What does the maple-cream glaze taste like?

Rich, fudgy and deeply caramelised. Boiling the cream and maple syrup together for 3-5 minutes concentrates the maple flavour and thickens the mixture into something halfway between a sauce and a set icing. When cooled and poured over the cake, it sets into a glossy, slightly sticky coating.

Don’t skip the cooling step: pour it on hot and it runs straight off the cake and pools on the plate. Let it cool to room temperature, where it should be thick and pourable but not set solid, then spread it over the top and let gravity take it down the sides. If it thickens too much, warm it gently for a few seconds.

How long does it keep?

The cake stores well in an airtight container for 3-4 days at room temperature, and the glaze actually helps seal in moisture. Cover it loosely rather than wrapping tightly, since the sticky glaze can pull off on cling film. It’s at its best on the day it’s baked, when the pecans are still crunchy and the glaze is freshly set.

It also freezes well: wrap the unglazed cake tightly and freeze for up to 3 months, then defrost and glaze fresh. The glaze doesn’t freeze well on its own since it can separate, so make it just before serving. If you enjoy banana bakes, Mary Berry’s banana loaf recipe takes a completely different, simpler approach with honey icing and light muscovado.

What should I serve it with?

Plain, with a cup of tea, is how Martin frames it: a moreish teatime treat. The glaze makes it rich enough to stand alone, and the pecans give it bite. If you want to dress it up, a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside a warm slice is hard to beat, or a dollop of crème fraîche for sharpness.

For a full Home Comforts tea, serve it after one of Martin’s lighter dishes, like his avocado and bacon salad as a starter. Among his sweet bakes, it sits between the simplicity of his double chocolate cherry brownies and the showiness of his chocolate profiteroles.