Banana Walnut Cake Recipe

Here’s a tried and tested recipe for a delicious Banana Walnut Cake.

I was motivated to try it out as a backup dessert for Francois’ birthday (I ended up serving Plan A: a slightly failed but still delicious wannabe Pavlova, i.e. a tanned and slightly soft meringue with tons of fluffy whipped cream, cut up Kiwis, and Passion Fruit coulis)… and, let’s be honest, because when we went to IKEA two weeks ago, I wanted to buy cute cookie molds but F gave me a raised eyebrow look that made me admit that I would possibly never use them. I want to be a person who bakes, I am just not quite there yet.

But this is a step in the right direction!

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 100g of unsalted butter
• 250g of regular sugar
• 250g of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 100g of walnuts

How to make the deliciousness happen

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Break four eggs in a bowl, and whisk using an electric whisk. This will likely take 5-10min, or until the eggs are a frothy consistency that makes “ribbons” when you lift the whisk out.
3. In a separate (bigger) bowl, mix the 100g of butter with the 250g of sugar. I recommend using a spoon to fold in the sugar and butter first, or melting the butter a bit so that when you use the electric whisk to mix these two ingredients together properly, the sugar doesn’t fly all over your kitchen.
4. Use a sieve to add the flour and baking powder to the butter and sugar mix (you don’t have to use a sieve, but it helps with the fluffiness), add the eggs, mashed bananas, and vanilla extract. Mix together with a wooden spoon or spatula, aiming for 10 clockwise turns because if you “overmix” it will make the cake less airy and light.
5. Add in the walnuts – big and chunky, so no need to chop them up – and mix in with another 5 or so clockwise turns.
6. Prep the cake mold by lining it with oil or butter, using your fingers to spread it all over (this is key, so your cake doesn’t stick).
7. Pour the batter into the mold, using a spoon to flatten it.
8. Pop your preparation into the oven for 40minutes – but set the timer for 30min and then check in on your cake, because every oven is different! Your cake is ready when you put in a toothpick / skewer / knife and it comes out clean.

Et voila! Enjoy it as is, with vanilla ice cream, a side of red wine, or whatever speaks to you.

Bon appetit (and remember – this is a cake but it is full of healthy things like bananas and walnuts, so it’s good for you too! Heh.)