No I'm not joining the revolution of rejecting wheat but i am experimenting as my youngest child has allergies to something and i do try to avoid processed wheat whenever possible. I didn't make my own gluten-free flour as i was a little lazy and just picked some up from the shops it works fine and the flavour is no different.  Today is one those days when the weather outside is wet and inside we are all just doing our thing.  My thing of course revolves around food - my second batch of cheese is sitting undisturbed as the curds separated from the whey, the sweet, sticky aroma of jam is drifting through the house and banana cake is baking in the oven.  With all this hot weather you may find your bananas over-ripening faster than usual, this is where banana cake comes in handy.  It can be toasted for breakfast, eaten anytime of the day or night and freezers well.  This recipe can be made with or without gluten-free flour.

Gluten-free banana cake Makes 1 full-sized loaf or 2 small loaves Preheat the oven to 180C In one bowl, combine: 115g butter, softened 2 eggs 2 or 3 very ripe bananas, mashed with fork until fine pulp 2/3 cup sugar In another bowl, combine: 1 1/3 cup gluten-free flour 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Method Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are blended together.

If you like, stir in additional ingredients here, such as chopped walnuts or pecans, dried cherries or apricots, or chocolate chips. A handful (about a half a cup) is about right.

Pour the dough into a greased loaf tin and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Small loaves take around 30 minutes, a normal-sized loaf takes around 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven. This bread is great warm, but it is excellent cold too.

After they have cooled for 5 or 10 minutes the loaves can be removed from the pan to cool. Once they are cool they can be individually wrapped and frozen.