I had planned to make banana bread yesterday. It’s my default cake option because I always seem to have three elderly bananas sat in the fruit bowl, withering away into a state of blackened despair. I can’t bear to throw anything away and banana bread is a great way to use up bananas that are past their prime. However, as I unpeeled yesterday’s blackened bananas they were too far gone, even for me. There was barely any fruit inside the skins, they had dried away to nothing, and something blue was beginning to sprout on the peel – alas, they had to be composted. One of them was still salvageable, but one banana does not a banana bread make.

Anyway, Ade then came home with the first harvest of rhubarb from the allotment which got me thinking about rhubarb and custard.

Deciding to do a new twist on this classic flavour combination, I teamed the rhubarb and the remaining banana in a fruity traybake. It’s simple to make, so delicious and makes a welcome change from the ubiquitous rhubarb pies and crumbles we all end up making at this time of the year.

Enjoy!

RHUBARB & BANANA SQUARES
Makes: 15 squares  Prep Time: 15 mins  Cooking Time: 1 hour

250g self-raising flour
200g dark muscovado sugar
200g rhubarb
1 banana
25g oats
150g cold butter, cubed
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 tsp ground ginger

Method

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Grease and line a baking tray.

Dice the rhubarb into small cubes and place in a bowl. Pour over the sugar and give everything a good stir. Leave the rhubarb to gently break down while you get on with the next steps.

Mash the banana in a bowl.

Tip the flour, oats and ginger into a large bowl and stir well. Add the cubed butter, rubbing it into the mixture thoroughly with your fingers.

Add the beaten eggs, mashed banana, rhubarb and sugar to the flour mixture and stir until everything is well combined.

Tip the mixture into the lined tray, smoothing the surface with the back of a spoon.

Cook in the oven for 1 hour.

Leave to cool before removing from the tin and cutting into squares.

(Click here for a print-friendly version.)