Picture Lara Breckon
Our erstwhile ‘Man Friday’ Tam Shepherd, who worked at the Watermill from May to July 2017, was a wow with our guests, not only for his cheerful personality and hard work, but also for the delicious cake he baked for us each week.
We’ve added it to the mouth-watering Watermill recipes that you can find on our Watermill Friends page (along with painting, writing, knitting and yoga tips and exclusive offers). You can become a Friend (it’s free!) by clicking here and registering.
Tam’s banana, hazelnut and dark chocolate loaf
- 175g light brown sugar
- 175g self-raising flour
- 175g softened butter
- 2 free range eggs
- 75g chopped hazelnuts
- 100g dark chocolate
- drop of vanilla extract
- 2 ripe bananas, riper the better
- pinch of Demerara sugar
Preheat the oven to 170°C and line the base and sides of a 20cm x 12cm loaf tin with baking parchment.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light coffee colour, then slowly add the eggs; this is best done using a hand whizzer.
Mix in the hazelnuts and flour.
Chop the bananas into small pieces and break up the chocolate using a food processor to leave you with some finely ground but mostly small bits; you don’t want many larger chunks (alternatively you can use chocolate chips).
Fold both in with the vanilla extract (careful not to over mix) and spoon into the tin. Sprinkle a small amount of Demerara sugar on top and bake for between an hour to an hour and 10 minutes (cover with foil if top starts to darken too quickly).
Once out the oven, let cool before cutting and serve with a cup of tea or coffee!
Picture: Lydia Breckon
