Cakeline (a sort of dateline for cafés)

I've been going to a few cafés of late so thought I'd reveal their credentials to you in one go.

Café #1...Trendy, playful and ready to please. This nostalgic café is big on style.

The Breakfast Club. I've already posted about these guys and their delicious brunch offerings, however this time I sampled their pancakes (mainly because it was Pancake Day!). This café is fun-loving and knows how to satisfy a grumbly tummy with their American diner-style menu. You'll find their Soho, Hoxton and Angel branches all get pretty busy, but it's for a good reason.

English breakfast tea

Banana, Nutella and ice cream pancakes

Café #2: An arty type, this modest lover of vintage decor is the reliable type.

The Candid Café in Angel is a hidden gem. Behind Angel station off of City Road, this café is above the small Candid Arts venue. Full of intriguing paintings and vintage furniture, it's a lovely place to unwind, stop off with a friend, have a relaxed meeting or just sit and read a book for a while. They serve food all day and also have some lovely cakes on display (yes, I had one). Good and dependable this café certainly is.

Coffee and blueberry cheesecake

Café #3: Host to a busy lifestyle, this one's all about satisfying in a short-stop, no questions asked sort of way.

The Fleet River Bakery is tucked away behind Kingsway Road in Holborn and doesn't fail to attract a crowd. Selling Monmouth coffee and a lovely array of teas, along with some dangerously tasty cakes, (the peanut butter cheesecake in particular is a must!) There's freshly made salads, tarts and quiches if you're in the mood to take it one step further with lunch.

Eight butterflies green tea (cranberry, rose petals & chrysanthemum)

Banana Batch

I've recently been trying to master a good banana cake after eating someone else's and getting cake envy. I've tried other people's recipes, changing ingredients, making it in two small loaf tins instead of one large, changing the oven temperature etc but by jove I think I've now cracked it!

Last night I concocted my best batch, but in a 'happy accident' kind of way. Mainly because I didn't have quite enough self-raising flour and used plain flour to top up the ratio. Now, I always thought this was a big no-no in baking...but as it turns out, it worked beautifully.

So without further ado, I give you The Banana, Pecan and White Chocolate Cake!

Ingredients:

125g self raising flour

50g plain flour

100g caster suger

75g demerera sugar

1 tsp baking powder

150g/4oz unsalted butter at room temperature, diced

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Generous squeeze of lemon juice

2 bananas, diced

100g Green & Blacks white chocolate, chopped

25g pecan halves, chopped

How To Make:

Preheat oven to 150. Grease a 2Ib bread loaf tin with butter.

Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. (The demerera sugar won't all go through the sieve so just add that to the bowl as it is).

Stir in the butter, eggs and vanilla extract until the mixture folds. Add the banana, white cholocate, pecans and finally the squeeze of lemon juice and stir well.

Add mixture to the loaf tin. Bake for about 30 minutes and check it's progress. You may need to put some foil over the top at this stage to avoid the top burning/over cooking.

Leave in the oven for a further 20 minutes. Remove from oven, take foil off and check it's progress by using a metal skewer to see if the middle of the cake has cooked through.

It probably still needs another 10 minutes, so leave the foil off and cook for 10 minutes until the top goes golden and the cake has cooked all the way through.

When done, leave the cake in the loaf tin for 5 minutes and then gently transfer the cake onto a cooling rack for a further 5 minutes.