Banana, apricot & chocolate chip ring cake

I've been trying to keep myself occupied the past few days, due to some distressing family news, so when I found myself distracted and aimless on Friday night I decided to make a cake for A and his father, who is staying with him for a few weeks. Each night, when their paths cross, they sit up in his lounge room and have a long chat about the day they've had, and how to solve the world's problems. They're really living the life of 2 bachelors, as evidenced by the lack of food in A's fridge. So, I decided to occupy myself by making them a cake they could enjoy with their evening cup of tea, or take to work in slices, for morning tea.
I've been keeping Nigella's Domestic Goddess on the coffee table recently, so I've had it within arm's reach and have been flicking through it a lot. I searched through until I found a simple looking cake, for which I had most of the ingredients, and could be made with little fuss. This cake is made in one saucepan, which makes it a breeze to whip up quickly!
The original recipe is for banana, dried cherry and white chocolate cupcakes. But I didn't have cherries, only apricots. And no white chocolate, but milk chocolate chips. Nor did I have any sour cream, but lots of milk. Also, I didn't want to make cupcakes, but a serious, hearty looking cake for men....so in reality I only used Nigella's recipe as a launching pad for my own creation. But, I must stress that this method of making cakes in one saucepan is really to be recommended! So easy!

Banana, apricot & chocolate chip ring cake
125g butter
200g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 ripe bananas
4 tablespoons or milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
300g plain flour
handful dried apricots - chopped finely
50g chocolate chips

-Preheat the oven to 180C
-Melt the butter in a saucepan, then, off the heat, add the sugar, vanilla and soft bananas, mashing them with a fork in the pan.
Stir in the milk and the eggs and - still using your fork, or wooden spoon - beat to mix.
-Add the bicarb and baking powder, and stir in well, then finally stir in the flour, apricots and chocolate chips.
-When the mixture's just blended pour into a greased ring tin (or loaf pan, or regular cake tin...whatever you choose. Muffin tins as well, if you want cupcakes).
-Cook for ~40 minutes, or until you stick in a skewer and decide it's ready.