This pineapple and banana cake is a bit of fun and very easy to make. Obviously the riper the bananas, the better the flavour. I always forget to freeze over-ripe bananas, but they are fine to freeze in a plastic container, either peeled or unpeeled depending on how you want to use them eventually.
A recipe like this would be fine with unpeeled ones as you would need them to thaw out fully, then peel before using. But freezing peeled bananas in plastic freezer bags is very handy if you're making smoothies or anything similar, as you can just plop them straight in and whizz up your concoction .
Pineapple and banana cake
![](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/RMYSHIGXK2J2KWTFFQREEJV3CQ.jpg?auth=e77ae26dbbc76dabae180d4b5821d72f24eb40d0ab18450ad01b0bdcf057b5e3&width=800&height=450)
350g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
175g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
200ml sunflower oil
2 large bananas, very ripe, mashed
100g fresh pineapple, very finely diced
Finely grated zest and juice from 1 orange
100g walnuts, chopped
Icing
2 x 200g packs cream cheese
200g icing sugar
Juice and rind of 2 limes
Heat the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Line a 24-centimetre spring-form cake tin. Sieve together the flour and baking powder if you’re being diligent (I wasn’t and didn’t). Add the mixed spice and sugar and mix well. Whisk or beat together the eggs, oil, pineapple, orange juice and zest and walnuts. Add to the dry ingredients, and fold in.
Make sure it’s mixed very well and then pour into the tin. Cover it loosely with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Ours took closer to the hour until the skewer came out clean, but we felt it was a little overcooked on the outside. So check it after 45 minutes. Allow the cake to cool down fully on a rack.
Mix the ingredients for the icing together. It will seem a bit too runny at first, but will firm up once it’s gone back into the fridge. When the cake is cool, ice it and serve. You can add some more zest as decoration.
Domini recommends: Verjus, the juice of unfermented grapes. A splash added to everything gives a lovely savoury flavour, as well as acidity without sourness. When you want to add lemon juice to something, try verjus instead. Great on sautéed mushrooms and other vegetables and in salad dressings. From Fallon Byrne, Roy Fox’s