Serves 12

Topping

• 100g butter, melted
• 1 cup soft brown sugar, firmly packed
• 4-5 medium bananas, peeled and halved lengthways

Cake

• 200g butter, softened
• 1½ cups caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ cup milk

Method
Heat oven to 180°C. Grease a 24cm springform cake tin. Mix melted butter with brown sugar and spread into base of cake tin. Cover with banana halves and set aside.

Make cake mixture by beating butter and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. Beat in eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Sift flour and baking powder together and stir into creamed mixture, alternating with milk.

Spread cake mixture over bananas. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven, loosen cake and invert on to a serving plate while still hot or the caramelised sugar will stick to the tin making it impossible to remove.

An Ex wrote this out for me, from a recipe book he had. He'd never made this cake. It's probably my favourite cake to make, and a bit different from any other I've seen, which is probably the appealing factor. That and its taste that is. The image is a scan from the note paper he wrote it on.

Ingredients

• 1 cup boiling water
• ¼ cup ground coffee
• 200g butter
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ cup fine ground coffee
• 8 sugar cubes
• cinnamon

Method
Pour boiling water over first measure of ground coffee and steep for 5 minutes. Strain liquid from coffee grounds and pour over butter until butter melts. Mix in eggs, sugar, vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour, baking powder and second measure of coffee and mix until combined.

Pour into 20cm square cake tin and bake for 50-55 minutes at 180°C. Sprinkle crushed sugar cubes over hot cake, cool 10 minutes before removing from tin. Dust with cinnamon and serve with coffee cream.

Coffee Cream
Mix together 300ml whipped cream, 1 tablespoon icing sugar, and 2 tablespoons very strong espresso coffee.

Based on Delia's recipe, but she measures ingredients.

Ingredients

• Trifle sponge
• Butterscotch sauce
• Madeira or Sherry
• Bananas
• Custard
• Cream, whipped

Method
Split trifle sponge in half lengthways and spread each half with butterscotch sauce. Re-form them into sandwiches, cut into pieces and place in bowl.

Carefully pour the Madeira or Sherry all over, distributing it as evenly as possible. Set aside to allow the sponge to soak it all up – about 20 minutes. All the sponge should be moistened by this.

Slice the bananas into chunks and scatter all around the sponge.

Pour more butterscotch sauce as evenly as possible all over.

Pour the custard over, cover with whipped cream and chill till needed.

Ingredients

• 1 can (about 7 ounces/200g) tuna in olive oil, with most but not all of the oil drained off
• 1 oz shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise (the real stuff)
• Pinch of salt
• Juice from half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• Half a green onion, green and white parts, chopped

Method
In a food processor, whiz the whole thing together until smooth.
Serve with crostinis.

If you need a little extra liquid -- and you might -- add a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar at a time.

Options
You could jazz it up a bit with fresh chillies, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, or just about anything that goes well with tuna. Tuna likes strong flavours, much like chicken.

NotesI'm not sure where I got this recipe.