Mary Berry's Banoffee Traybake

This recipe is from "Cook Now, Eat Later" - I've just made it for the first time, and it has the double plus points of being really easy to make, and really really nice!

On the topic of books, I'm about 100 pages from the end of Vanity Fair so will write about that soon...the cake is a minor distraction for you while you wait.

So, you will need:

For the cake:

175g baking margarine or butter at room temperature

250g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas, mashed

350g self-raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons milk

Toffee topping: a tin of Carnation caramel (normally used for banoffee pie). Alternatively, 50g butter, 50g light muscovado sugar and a 397g can sweetened condensed milk.

Line a 30 x 23 cm (12 x 9 inn) traybake tin or roasting tin with foil & grease well. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, 350 F or Gas 4.

Measure the above ingredients into a bowl, and mix until smooth with an electric beater. Put into the tin, smooth the top, and bake for 40-45 mins until well risen & golden (in our oven this took about 38 mins, but it is a feisty oven). Cool in the tin.

If using the tin of caramel, tip into a bowl and beat to make it smooth, then spread over the cake.

If making the topping yourself, put the three topping ingredients into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil stirring continuously and simmer for a few minutes until smooth and starting to thicken. Take off the heat and cool slightly, pour over the cool cake. Spread out evenly with a small palette knife and allow to set on the cake before cutting into squares with a hot knife.

Enjoy. I love Mary Berry recipes because they always work and she doesn't really consider the concept of low fat...