Roasted banana bread with brown butter frosting and caramelised pistachios

The smell of roasting bananas is almost as good as great banana bread itself - rich and sweet and caramel - and adds a depth of flavour to my favourite banana bread recipe. I also added a frosting, made with browned butter which also has a similarly caramelised, nutty flavour. I topped it with some caramelised pistachios and took it for dinner with our friends Emma and Geraint, along with some homemade ice cream made with the remaining roasted bananas, coconut milk and honey.  

Ingredients

5 ripe bananas

4 oz butter

3 oz caster sugar

2 oz soft brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

8 oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch salt

For the frosting

4 oz butter

6 oz icing sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

For the caramelised pistachios

2 oz pistachios

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp water

Method 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base and sides of a large loaf tin.
2. Place the bananas, whole and with their skins still on, on a lined baking sheet in the oven for 10 minutes until their skins have turned dark brown and liquid is beginning to ooze onto the baking sheet.
3. Carefully peel the bananas and place in a food processor, blitzing until smooth.
4. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating well each time.
6. Fold in the bananas.
7. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and gently fold in with a metal spoon.
8. Pour mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
9. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Meanwhile, make the icing: place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it bubbles and starts to turn a golden brown. Remove from the heat and sift in the icing sugar and cinnamon. Beat well until smooth, adding more icing sugar if necessary to reach the desired consistency for frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use.
11. To make the caramelised pistachios: place the sugar and water in a small saucepan, heat to dissolve the sugar, and then add the pistachios. Heat rapidly to caramelise the sugar, which should bubble up coating the pistachios. Remove from the heat and pour onto a baking sheet to cool.  Once cooled, transfer to a food processor and blitz until fairly coarsely ground.
12. Once the cake is cool, ice with the frosting and sprinkle with the ground pistachios.