I recently encountered a recipe on one of the health food blogs that I subscribe to, which suggested adding avocado to your porridge.

Now, while I like to think of myself as being quite open to slightly unusual ingredient combinations, and while I love both porridge and avo, eaten together this just seemed a bridge too far.

Avocado in chocolate ganache maybe, (my friend and baker Lou has proven that this is actually totally delicious), but in porridge? Hmmm.

However, subsequent baking escapades have proven that even the most unlikely ingredient additions can make for tasty results.

Last week we decided to bake a banana loaf, not unusual in itself, until someone (mentioning no names) accidentally mistook ripe plantain for overripe bananas. At the point the discovery was made the decision was made to plough on, with the assistance of a slightly aggressive blender. We also added some chopped mixed nuts, dried cherries and apricots. The result? Delicious! And some inadvertent vegetable eating, which can’t be bad.

This week we attempted vegan banana and peanut butter cupcakes, again, a seemingly innocuous combination, until we discovered that the main binding ingredient was egg free mayonnaise. Mayonnaise in cupcakes dear reader! Well, again the result was totally yummy and the texture was perfect.

Likewise, I know more expert bakers than me use courgette and beetroot in cakes with much success.

And last week, with the lack of milk alternatives in Frankfurt I even substituted soya for apple juice on my cereal, in what turned out to be not an altogether disastrous experiment.

So, will I be putting avo in my porridge tomorrow morning? Well maybe not quite yet, but I have to admit I’m slightly tempted…