salted caramel and peanut butter 'stuck-on-the-bottom' cake

... and suddenly the UK is gripped by freezing weather, snow and high winds... it's quite incredible how it just suddenly happens. One minute we're enjoying a mild winter where every single person I know has either suffered from or is about to suffer from a stinking cold because the weather has been too warm and there are just too many bugs in the air and the next minute, bam... that cold front slaps us across the face and in true British fashion we get snowed in with one inch of snow, the rail networks breakdown and the roads become impassable... it just wouldn't be the same country without one of these weeks at some point between November and March. For me it means staying close to home with the heating on full whack and slowly eating my way through the house. All the obvious edibles go first and then whatever's left gets made into cake...

salted caramel and peanut butter stuck on the bottom, almond and honey banana cake
you know when you sneak those teaspoons of peanut butter from the jar in your cupboard and the peanut butter gets stuck on the top of your mouth, well this cake is like that, but the peanut butter gets stuck on the bottom of the cake... it's also one of those cakes that's made from the stuff in your cupboard that's probably well past its 'best-before' date but you just don't want to throw it away. My weekends are usually back at the cottage but this weekend we're down in London and I thought that the cupboards could do with a bit of a clear out... this is always a big mistake because there's just so much stuff to get through and I always feel guilty by the amount of stuff that's past its best. Although the half pot of Tesco Finest Salted Caramel Chocolate Spread and teeny slither of chunky peanut butter stuck to the bottom of an old jar did inspire me to bake, so it can't be all bad...

200g self-raising flour
100g salted butter
80g dark brown sugar
100g caramel chocolate spread (could use nutella)
50g chunky peanut butter
50g almond slithers
2 tablespoons honey (i'm using some gorgeous Clarks Honey)
2 ripe bananas - mashed
3 large free range eggs

grease and line a large loaf tin - mine is a 2lb tin and pre-heat the oven to 170C

mix together 1 tablespoon honey, the chocolate spread and peanut butter and spread this into the bottom of your loaf tin - set aside

place the flour, sugar and butter into a large bowl and rub together with your finger-tips until it resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the almond slithers

in another bowl, beat the eggs, add the mashed banana and 1 tablespoon honey and beat together then pour onto the flour mix

stir the flour mix together with a rubber spatula until you have a thick batter and then pour into the loaf tin

bake for 40 minutes in the oven on 170C or until a skewer inserted comes out clean

set aside to cool in the tin for 10 mins then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack until completely cool - be careful here as it will be a little runny, so place a plate beneath the rack

the peanut butter and caramel stuck on the bottom adds just the right amount of nastiness to a very simple cake...

eat and of course, enjoy!