[Mirabelle]

While in Monaco last weekend in-between concerts, Mandy and I visited a tea house and there enjoyed not only one of the loveliest post of tea ever, but nearly swooned over a most delicious cake generously served up on a white porcelain platter. So impressed I was that I asked the proprietor if she would give me the recipe. She said the recipe was by Thomasina Miers, but instead of using 'baking chocolate', used chopped up pieces of Valrhona chocolate - and that just made the cake all the lovelier. Guess what, homies - I found the recipe!

Banana Bread with Toasted Walnuts and Dark Chocolate
Recipe by Thomasina Miers

Most of the sweetness in this recipe comes from the bananas and dark chocolate chips, and it needs very little butter, as it uses milk instead. It takes a little while to prepare, but it will keep for a week in a tin. You can even slice it and toast or grill it after a few days if you want it hot.

Serves 8

125g softened butter
120ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp lemon juice
150g walnuts
250g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
A couple of pinches ground allspice
200g dark brown soft sugar
2 eggs
250g mashed ripe bananas (2 medium bananas)
A few drops of vanilla essence
150g 70% dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or use high cacao chips, OR, Valrhona)
2 small loaf tins

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and leave the butter out to soften. Mix the milk with the lemon juice and leave aside. Butter and flour a couple of small loaf tins and line their bases with baking paper.

2. Put the walnuts on a baking tray and warm through in the oven until they are lightly toasted (about 5-8 minutes) then leave to cool.

3. Sift the dry ingredients – flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and allspice – into a bowl. In another bowl, cream the butter and half the sugar with an electric beater or wooden spoon until it is pale, light and fluffy.

4. Gradually add the eggs and a tablespoon of the flour mixture, then beat in the rest of the sugar, the bananas and the vanilla essence. Beat the remaining dry ingredients into the mixture adding the milk bit by bit.

5. Roughly chop the walnuts and fold into the mixture with the chocolate.

6. Pour into the loaf tins and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a metal skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then turn out of the tins on to metal racks.