Today’s recipe is that of another from my mother’s fruit cake series – banana and apple cake.

Banana and Apple cake

Time taken: 1 hour

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

• Apple – 1
• Banana – 1
• Vegetable margarine – ¾ cup + 1 or 2 tbsp (for icing, optional)
• Sugar – ½ cup
• Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp
• Semolina – ½ cup
• All-purpose flour – 1 cup
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – ¾ tsp
• Green food colouring – few drops
• Vanilla essence – ½ tsp
• Icing sugar – 4 or 5 tbsp, optional
• Lime juice – 1 or 2 tsp, optional

Method:

1. Chop up the apple. Cook the chopped apple for about 10 mins, in a saucepan over low heat, adding some cinnamon powder. Stir regularly.
2. Transfer the cooked apple pieces from the saucepan to a blender. Add the chopped banana. Coarsely blend. Keep aside.
3. Add the margarine and sugar to the saucepan containing some of the apple sauce after the apple pieces had been transferred to the blender. Add up to ½ cup of water. Heat the contents for a few mins.
4. After cooling, transfer the melted margarine and sugar to a mixing bowl. Stir in the blended fruits. Add the green food colouring and vanilla essence.
5. Sift the flour, semolina, baking powder and baking soda together. Gradually add in the flour mix to the mixing bowl until a smooth cake batter is obtained.
6. Transfer to baking tray and bake for 30 mins at 170⁰C/338⁰F.
7. If you would like icing on the cake, prepare the icing by mixing the icing sugar with a tbsp of margarine, lime juice and a few drops of green food colouring.
8. Spread the icing evenly over the cake before slicing and serving.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.