Ripe bananas kept at home for too long often turn soft. Many people then do not want to eat them, yet throwing them away feels wrong. That is when those ripe bananas can be turned into a delicious cake.

Banana cake is soft, fragrant and very tasty. It makes a great snack with afternoon tea or for children's tiffin, and it is easy to make at home with only a few ingredients.

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1.5 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• Half a cup of sugar
• Half a cup of oil or melted butter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Half a teaspoon baking soda
• A little ground cinnamon
• Half a teaspoon vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt

First beat the eggs and sugar well in a bowl. Then mix in the oil or melted butter, the vanilla essence and the mashed bananas.

In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Now slowly fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture to make the batter. Add the ground cinnamon if you like.

Pour the batter into a greased cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 30-35 minutes. If you do not have an oven, you can also make it in a pot on the stove.

When the cake is done, let it cool, cut it and serve with tea or coffee. It can also go in children's tiffin boxes.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.