Are there Bananas in France?

Searching through my copy of  'Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, I found only one casual reference to bananas. This was to use bananas as a substitute for other fruit in a fruit flan.

Checking further in my "Cordon Bleu Cookery Book", I found only a couple of minor inclusions of bananas. So what does this mean? Do French people eat bananas? Are there bananas in France?

So I took a fabulous French Apple Cake recipe and adapted it into a French Banana Cake. The result was pretty outstanding. But, I can't call it a French Banana Cake, because I am not sure if French people eat bananas.

So here is my recipe for a French Banana Cake with a French Accent!

Bon appétit!

170 degrees, fan forced oven 
Spring form cake tin size 22cms

Ingredients

110 g Caster sugar
110g Butter
3 ripe Bananas
Pinch salt
2 Eggs
120g Plain Flour
3/4 teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract

• Grease cake tin with butter.
• Melt butter in a saucepan on a low heat and cool
• Mix flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl.
•  Using an electric beater, beat eggs,vanilla and sugar together until they look light and creamy.
• Beat half the flour mixture in to the egg mixture and fold in half the butter. 
• Gradually fold in remaining flour and then the last of the butter. This should have a batter consistency.
• Chop bananas into large pieces and gently mix into the batter.
• Pour the batter into a well greased cake pan and bake at 170 degrees, fan forced, pre heated oven, for approximately 35 minutes.
• Cool for 5 minutes in the tin and then cool on a rack.

Serve  by itself with a dusting of icing sugar or indulge with Creme Fraiche, cream or Ice Cream.
Delish!

Adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan - The Apple Cake is amazingly delicious too!