One thing tends to lead to another

For me, a banana has a very narrow window of perfect ripeness for eating. Under-ripe and they're shiny and not a good taste - over-ripe and they're soft and have a tendency to cause indigestion. I suspect, for me at least, the window of banana perfection is only about 24 hours or so. But when you get it right, they're just fabulous.

So looking at the handful of large bananas on the kitchen windowsill, I was sure that window had passed. But I hate waste, so wondered what I could cook with them in - cake was the most obvious answer, but I can't think that I've ever made a banana cake before.

As a diabetic, I don't bake very often, only usually if entertaining other people and consequently, I don't keep much in the way of supplies on hand - in fact my usual practice is to stock up on sugar and a cheap margarine tub that will freeze, before Christmas and very often this lasts most of the year - I perhaps buy 3 bags of sugar a year - and two of those will be dark ones for rum butter and the like for the festivities.

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Shame I can't blog the smell for you.

So I was going to have to find a recipe with a minimal ingredient list and not taking long to prepare. Inspection of the fridge and cupboards found 3 eggs with a 'use by' date that has passed at the beginning of the week, an open bag each of pecans and brazil nuts and some raisins - those I do keep in as I like them on my breakfast.

As I had 3 eggs and the recipe required only 1, I decided to double up the quantity and go for a loaf and some muffins - it suggested that either would work. But now I didn't really have enough bananas, so I ended up using the final egg as the mixture felt a little dry and solid.

By the time I'd added some raisins and chopped nuts , the volume of mix was sufficient for two loaves and a dozen small bun tin muffins. So what started out as trying not to waste five bananas ended up with a pile of baked goods - I have to hope that I can make some room in the freezer. I really enjoyed making it, I haven't baked like that for a long time.

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