Whizz bang chocolate banana steamed pudding

This won’t win any awards for lightness of sponge or indeed presentation! However, sometimes my children ask for a hot pudding as their dinner is being cleared away and not being a woman who has time to steam spotted dick for hours, this is a great alternative. The bowl/mug mechanism of baking seems to tickle the children too.

Measuring here is key, so do crack out the digital scales and measuring spoons rather than doing things by eye. And be sure to use a ripe banana – if you use an unripe one then the cake will not taste banana-y at all.

INGREDIENTS

45g butter

1/2 large egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

25g caster sugar

5g cocoa powder

40g self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

20ml whole milk

1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice

1/2 ripe banana, mashed very well

METHOD

In a microwave on high, melt the butter in a microwaveable cereal size bowl or a microwaveable large mug (it needs to be at least 9 cm high and 8 cm across) for about 1 minute. Add all of the remaining ingredients to the melted butter. Beat vigorously with a fork for 1 minute until everything is well mixed and looks quite smooth.

Place the bowl or mug on a plate in case any of the mixture escapes during cooking, and microwave for 3½ minutes on high. Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the bowl or mug. Taking care as the bowl or mug will still be very hot, use well-wrapped hands to turn the pudding out onto a plate. Cut the pudding in half and serve with whatever adornment is fancied. Be careful of little mouths, as steamed puddings are obviously very hot.

IDEAS FOR BEATEN EGG

Stir through hot pasta along with chopped ham and cooked peas for a very lazy and not very Italian take on carbonara. Or make chicken dippers: soak some raw chicken strips in milk, coat in flour, dip in beaten egg and cover with crunchy cornflakes before baking at 180°C for 20 minutes. Or you could just make another steamed chocolate and banana pudding…

#normalmum #chocolate #banana #pudding