Cauliflower cheese is one of those comfort food classics that search results tell us is very popular with our readers at Times Online. Butternut squash soup, fondant potatoes and pumpkin pie tend to fare well, too, around this time of year. But topping them all, and consistently polling well is banana bread.

Aussie chef Bill Granger makes a “melt and mix” banana bread with fig and prune butter and Gordon Ramsay makes his with walnuts and chcolate chips. It’s a great way to use up overripe bananas which tend to keep the cake moist and it’s not too hard to stick to fairtrade ingredients. Here’s the official recipe from the Fairtrade Foundation by TV chef Michael Barry:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Peel and mash 450g bananas, and then mix together thoroughly with 225g self-raising flour, 100g butter, 150g caster sugar, half tsp salt and 2 eggs. Add 175g mixed dried fruit. Spoon the mixture into a 1 kg (2 lb) non-stick loaf tin, spread it out evenly and bake it for 90 minutes. The loaf is done when a skewer pushed into its middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

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