Secret Ingredient Banana & Toffee Cake

Another delightful recipe from Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache; banana and toffee with a twist... this time the secret ingredient is butternut squash. Warm and comforting on a rain day, or any other excuse you may want, not that you really need one, its the same yumminess you know but with less sugar.

Banana & Toffee Cake

Makes 9 servings (not necessarily for 9 people!).

The ingredients
The cake
3 medium free range eggs
160g xylitol
250g peeled and grated butternut squash
1 tbsp vanilla
50g rice flour
100g ground almond
2 tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
80g chopped pecans
150g peeled and finely sliced banana

For syrup
50g unsalted butter
100g honey
3 tbsp boiling water

Bake in a 22cm x 5cm square tin

The method - cake
Preheat oven to 180C. Line the base of the tin with baking parchment. Grease the parchment and the sides of the tine with a little butter.

Whisk together the eggs and xylitol for about 5 minutes on full blast on an electric hand whisk.

Beat in the grated butternut squash and vanilla extract until well combined.

Whisk in the the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt until smooth.

With a spatula mix in the nuts banana (save a few slices of banana for the top).

Tip the mixture into the tin and the slices on banana on top.

Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.

Once baked, allow to cool in the tin while you make the toffee syrup.

Once the syrup has done (see below for instructions) pour the hot liquid on the cake quickly. Tilt the tin so the syrup overs the surface. It should seep in a bit, but I'm stayed on the top and became a sticky toffee layer and the cake is moist enough itself, so it was all good.

The method -syrup
In a medium saucepan melt the butter with honey, and water on a low heat until the butter is liquid.

Turn up the heat, and once at boiling point (the surface is covered with small bubbles), continue to boil hard for 3 minutes exactly (you'll need a timer).

When the 3 minutes are up, take the saucepan off the heat immediately and beat out the bubble (about 30 seconds).

Pour immediately!

Best eaten warm with vanilla ice cream or custard.