If baking was your lockdown time killer, you might think you've found the ultimate banana bread recipe. But if you thought you'd baked every version possible, including the Duchess of Sussex's own royal recipe, then you clearly hadn't heard about the Queen's secret ingredients! Trust us, this royal-approved recipe is one you won't want to miss.
READ: How to make the Queen's favourite lemon drizzle cake
The Queen's former royal chef Darren McGrady often shares kitchen secrets from when he who cooked for the monarch and her late husband Prince Philip, as well as Princess Diana, and a young Prince William and Prince Harry.
WATCH: The Queen's favourite foods may surprise you
In Darren's YouTube video, he revealed how Her Majesty, 95, likes her banana bread, which was regularly served during afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace. "A little butter just splattered across the top – the perfect afternoon tea cake," he explained.
MORE: The Queen's daily diet: The monarch's breakfast, lunch and dinner revealed
As well as combining the traditional ingredients of self-raising flour, butter, salt, eggs, sugar and bananas, Darren also added raisins, dried cherries and nuts to create texture and vanilla bean paste for added flavour.
Darren's royal-approved banana bread can keep in the fridge for weeks
Although we imagine the sweet treat would be quickly demolished in most households, Darren revealed the banana bread's extra ingredients allow it to be stored for several months – which used to come in handy when he worked for the royals!
Once fully cooled, the chef said: "We'll wrap it in plastic wrap and it can go into the refrigerator for up to three months and it keeps fresh and moist and perfect."
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Darren continued: "I can't tell you how many times this recipe got me out of trouble at Buckingham Palace. Because the fruit keeps the bread moist in the refrigerator for several weeks, there are always two or three loaves in there. If a member of the royal family turned up then, oh the good old banana bread – a life-saver!"
The Queen's fruit and nut version is very different from Meghan Markle's – which also contained two secret ingredients. Back in 2018, the Duchess took her own banana bread for a picnic with a farming family in Dubbo, Australia, whilst on royal tour with Prince Harry.
The Duchess is a fan of homemade banana bread
Meghan's homemade cake included chocolate chips and ginger, according to the Daily Mail's correspondent Rebecca English.
Benita Woodley from the Mountain View Farm told the Daily Mail: "She [the Duchess of Sussex] said if you go to someone's house you always bring something, so she did. She said she was worried about the bananas, that she'd put too many bananas in it. But the Duke said there's never too many bananas."
Which royal recipe to try first? We vote for both...
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