Aaah Nigel, you've done it again

My mum gave me Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries II for my birthday last week, and I've just cooked my first recipe from it - chocolate muscovado banana cake. Too delicious!

Cream125g butter and 235g muscovado sugar together (use dark brown if you can't get muscovado, but it is worth trying to find it as it really adds something extra to the taste and aroma).  Lightly beat 2 eggs and add in to the butter/sugar mix.

At this point I had a kitchen revelation when he said if it looks like it will curdle add in a spoon of the flour. Why has no one ever mentioned this before! I always have curdling at this step, but the flour trick worked a treat!

Mash 400g (peeled weight) bananas lightly (leave chunks) then mix in a teaspoon of vanilla. Chop 100g dark chocolate into smallish chunks, then fold gently into the butter/sugar mix, along with the bananas. Then fold in 250g of flour to which you've added 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

Into the oven at 180 for about 50 minutes in a lined loaf tin  - if a skewer comes out of the middle of the cake moist but clean then it's done. Cool in the tin for 15 mins before removing the cake to finish cooling - peel off the paper after another few minutes, then leave to cool.

It's fabulous on it's own, but I imagine it would also be divine lightly warmed with a dollop of thick cream / creme fraiche.