A first attempt at making Banana Cake

Nabs here :)

The first time I tried Banana Bread was at work when a colleague brought some in. It was absolutely delicious and I couldn't wait to try and make it myself. 

I haven't baked in a while and so today I decided to make some Banana Bread. I used this BBC Food recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bananabread_85720

 I think I may have added a bit too much ingredients (I really need a proper measuring set!) and possibly didn't leave the bread in the oven long enough. (I put it back in the oven for another 10,15 minutes after taking the photos that follow).

The recipe listed buttermilk as one of the ingredients and if you don't have that then normal milk mixed with lemon juice or vinegar. I used normal milk but forgot to mix in lemon juice and had to add in a splash after I'd added the milk.

All in all it has turned out okay for my first time making it, I've eaten a slice and it tastes quite nice. It tasted a lot better after I left it in the oven to bake for a little longer. It hasn't quite turned out like the one in the picture (check out the BBC link to the recipe at the top) but practice makes perfect and hopefully next time it will turn out better.

Ideal Sweets

Ideal Sweets is an Indian Sweet Shop and Bakery that recently opened on Tooting High Street. The front is painted in an eye catching red (unfortunately I haven't been able to get a photo).

I've never really been a massive fan of Indian Sweets or Methai (as they're otherwise known; for the purpose of this post I will refer to them as Indian Sweets or Sweets.) The reason being is I've found that they can sometimes be unbearably sweet. I once tried a Chocolate Barfi thinking that as it's got chocolate on the top I'll be able to eat it but I didn't even finish half of it. I do however really like Laddu and I've often found myself craving them. The ingredients include flour, sugar, milk and rice, depending on the type of Laddu. Okay, enough about my likes/dislikes and back to Ideal Sweets. 

On the weekend that Ideal Sweets opened their sweets were half price and as you can guess there were long queues on all 3 days so I decided to wait. I think the first time I went was later on in the week. 

As you walk into the shop you're greeted with a warm sweet smell and a large selection of sweets to choose from. As it was my first visit I asked for a piece or two of mostly everything to be put into the box. The prices are reasonable: a kilo of sweets costs £9 while a half kilo costs £4.

The sweets in the above photo have almost become my standard order (everytime I go these are generally the ones that I get). The selection includes (from the left): Rasgulla, Pista Barfi (the green sweet), Gajar Halwa (which is made with carrots) and Habshi Halwa (the brown sweet and my favourite!) 

If I could only recommend one of these tasty sweets to try I would choose Habshi Halwa, no hesitation! I can probably eat at least 2 pieces if not 3. Habshi Halwa is chewy, sticky, almost like toffee (only nicer). It does contain nuts however and a few other sweets might do as well so if you're allergic to nuts check before buying.

I'm watching my sugar intake so I won't be getting another box for a while...I won't leave it too long though.

Post written by Nabs.