Banana and Sultana Loaf

On a day-to-day basis, our children are helping in the kitchen. Well, maybe 'helping' doesn't quite describe Master Two's current contributions, but certainly Miss Seven and Master Four really do contribute to the evening meal.

Most commonly it's the salad they whip up, along with the usual placement of cutlery and the like.

I'd be a fibber if I told you that this time in the kitchen was their favourite. While I can see they like the time they spend doing these chores, it is the sweet stuff they really love.

Recipes where the children really are involved in almost everything (apart from reaching into the oven - too precarious at this stage for such little ones to reach over a large oven door) are the way to go. Avoiding machinery is generally the best option too. Partially because I think that the more hands on you are, the more you can get a feel for what feels 'right' in terms of things like creaming butter or kneading. The other thing is that ideally preparation wont take too long. A bit of measuring, cracking, mashing, stirring and pouring and the children are happy they've done enough work!

I really don't expect to ever beat the Banana Bread from How To Be A Domestic Goddess. Honestly it's the best. This one though, was perfect for nearly unsupervised preparation for the children, and it comes from Taste.com.au. This website is so handy, it's filled with family friendly recipes that are straightforward and generally don't have hard to find ingredients. This is what we did;

Banana and Sultana Loaf

300g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
110g caster sugar
125g sultanas
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250ml milk
3 small over-ripe bananas


Preheat oven to 180C.

Line the base and sides of a 23cm x 13cm loaf pan with baking paper.

Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and sultanas into a large bowl. Stir together.

Mash bananas before stirring in the eggs and then finally the milk.

Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients, until well combined.

Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean (ours took closer to 50 minutes).

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Slice and serve lightly buttered, or toast the slices and serve with lots of butter.

Makes about 12 slices


An ideal lunchbox filler, and if it floats your boat, take note it is relatively healthy having only as much butter or fat in it as you choose to add at serving. In fact the original recipe calls for low fat milk.

Is it a cake? Is it bread? According to my children it must be Break - being half way between the two! It's perfect afternoon tea fodder. Perfect kids cooking and perfectly delicious!