Campfire Cake: Banana Bread

Of all the images that I put out into the world, nothing gets a reaction quite like this one of banana bread cooked on a campfire. It's got everything you need: fire, cake and chocolate chips. I think there was a hot cuppa just out of shot.

It was taken a couple of years ago on my Rewild Retreat by my friend Lizz who is a very talented photo journalist who zooms all over the world and has a liking for war zones. But that's a story for another day.

Back to the cake.

I'd like to say that I'd spent hours refining my banana bread recipe but the truth is, it's the campfire that works its magic and does so on every recipe I've tried. I should give lemon drizzle a go. I usually use the BBC Good Food's recipe for banana bread and added chocolate chips but I've also substituted plain flour for buckwheat and spelt and made a vegan version too. They've all worked.

Here goes...

Ingredients:

• 140g butter, softened, plus extra for the tin

• 140g caster sugar

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 140g self-raising flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed

• Handful of chocolate chips

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl

• Dutch oven or cast iron casserole dish (remove any plastic handles), I'm going to refer to it as a 'pot'

• 2 lb load tin

• Tin foil

Method:

1. Light a good sized campfire. You need a good ember bed to make cake.

2. Once the fire has got some good embers going, preheat your 'oven' by putting the pot onto the embers and put a few on the top and leave for about an hour.

3. In the meantime, grease the loaf tin with a bit of butter.

4. Cream the softened butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy, then slowly add 2 beaten large eggs with a little of the flour.

5. Fold in the remaining flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 2 mashed bananas.

6. Add the chocolate chips, stir and then pour into the greased loaf tin.

7. Take the pot off the fire and remove the lid.

8. Make 4 balls of tin foil and put in the bottom of the pot to keep the loaf tin off the bottom and rest the loaf tin on top.

9. Put the lid on the pot and put it back into the embers.

10. Put embers back onto the top of the pot and leave for about 40 minutes, turning the pot around every 10 minutes to get an even bake.

And at the end of that you should have a lovely banana bread to munch and share. Let me know how you get on in the comments below!