Banana Bread With No Bananas

I miss my bananas. In March of this year, Cyclone Larry decimated Innisfail, in Queensland's far north, and with it 80% of Australia's banana plantations. Bananas which used to cost about 99c to $3 per kilo rocketed to $16 per kilo. Six months later the price of bananas is still at about $12-$14 per kilo.

Banana bread is now rarer than hen's teeth. Banana bread made with real bananas, that is. So for the latest Sugar High Friday event hosted by A Veggie Venture, I used the surprise theme to bake some friends a fake banana loaf. Okay so it didn't taste of bananas, and it had telltale tiny specks of green, but the moist dense consistency was there, and the crust had that familiar sweet chewy consistency. They were fooled by all external appearances.

It was also a big surprise for a young vegetable-phobe--the type who shies away from anything green--who was spotted eagerly reaching for a second slice. The banana bread guise does work! Surprise the kids. It's one way to get them to eat their vegetables.

Banana Bread With No Bananas
aka Zucchini Walnut Bread

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed firmly
1 cup oil
2 cups zucchini, grated finely
1 1/3 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups plain flour

Beat eggs with sugar and oil in a large bowl until well combined. Stir in zucchini and walnuts and then fold in sifted flours in two batches.

Pour into a 15cm x 25cm loaf tin and bake at 180C for 75-90 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave loaf in tin for five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

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SHF23, Sugar High Friday, baking