Classic American Bananabread

For one loaf:

Sugar (a little less than half a cup)
Butter (about 2oz/half a stick- easiest if it's room temp)
One really ripe Banana
1 Egg
Vanilla (1 tsp)
1 cup flour- half white, half whole wheat
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Cream the butter and the sugar- or just beat it with a spoon until it's combined. Mix in the Banana, egg and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients and then mix them in too. Put the dough into a buttered breadform(don't worry if it doesn't fill the form, it'll grow in the oven) and bake at 325F/180C until a knife comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Mmm.

Toping options: Sprinkle with oats and sugar before putting in the oven. Or, for Austrian-American Banana Cake, make a chocolate topping by melting a few onces of chocolate with a tiny nub of butter in a double boiler. Once it's nice and melted together, pour or spoon it over the top of the 'cake'. You might have to add a little boiling water to it to make it thin enough- don't worry if the whole cake is covered neatly, just drip and drizzle and call it rustic. You could even mix some chocolate bits into the batter- for Rosanne's Special Banana Bread, mix in some marijuana aswell. Real hit with the college kids.