BANG cake (banana, amaretto, nut and ginger)

It's fast approaching that lovely time of year when pumpkins and sparklers come out. In honour of this, I've called this a 'BANG' cake, as it's made from banana, amaretto, nuts and ginger. The cake contains ground walnuts and ground ginger, and is topped with a kind of crumble made from blitzed pecans and crystallised ginger. I'm serving this tonight for my friend Ali who is cooking me supper!

Ingredients 

3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten

5 tbsp sunflower oil
3 tbsp amaretto
3 tbsp golden syrup
3 tbsp yoghurt

4 oz self-raising flour

6 oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
3 oz molasses sugar
2 oz ground walnuts

For the topping

2 oz pecan nuts
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 oz crystallized ginger

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 9 inch round cake tin.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, eggs, oil, amaretto, golden syrup and yoghurt until smooth. 
3. Sift in the flours, salt, baking powder, ground ginger, molasses and ground walnuts and beat until well combined.
4. Place the pecans and crystallised ginger in a small food processor and blitz.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the pecan and crystallized ginger mix. 
6. Sprinkle the caster sugar over the top.
7. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Leave to cool in the pan for ten minutes before removing from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from a Patty's Food recipe