Pecan and Banana Loaf Cake

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I love loaf cakes. They’re easy to make, easy to cut and so useful. A few very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl was my inspiration for this loaf cake. I added some pecans, and used the buttermilk left over in the fridge from making scones.

Cake : 3 ripe bananas, 100g pecan nuts broken into small pieces, 100g soft butter, 175g soft brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 250g plain flour, 1 tspn bicarb, 1 tspn mixed spice, 100 ml buttermilk

Topping: 1 small banana, sliced,

Preheat oven 180C/gas4.        Grease and line base of 200g loaf tin

Beat the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, a bit at a time.
Mash the bananas and add to the batter then add  flour, bicarbonate and mixed spice and fold in.
Stir in the buttermilk then most of the nuts, saving a few bits for the top.
Pour into the loaf tin, then put the sliced bananas on top and sprinkle over the rest of the nuts.
Bake for about 45-50 mins. If top is browning too quickly, cover with foil.
Cool on a wire rack.


The buttermilk makes this loaf nice and moist. It has a crumbly texture with nice crunchy nuts and soft bananas. A treat with a cuppa on a really miserable day like today!

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