Banana Walnut Bread / Banana Nut Cake
Banana Walnut Bread / Banana Nut Cake
Have you ever really wished for the bananas at home to rot soon? WARNING: This recipe might make you want to do so.
I love the Banana Nut Loaf @ Starbucks, and that’s what inspired me to try making this dish at home. We buy fresh bananas quite regularly, but don’t really get to eat the whole bunch – the last few end up being too ripe/ almost rotten and then we’d have to throw them out. Little did I know then that ‘too-ripe’ was just what was needed for making banana bread or banana cake. I guess I never got to it until earlier this year thinking it was going to involve too much stuff – like fermentation, yeast, etc etc. Turns out it does not need much after all. If you keep just a few handy items in your pantry, you can whip up some of the yummiest desserts in almost no time. So I always have baking powder, baking soda and essence of vanilla in the kitchen these days. That should do it.. most other things are what you would typically have in the kitchen.
Whenever we buy bananas now, I know that I am secretly hoping for it to get too ripe/almost rotten enough to eat.. just the perfect excuse to make banana bread! That’s how this loaf got baked too and I must tell you this, it hardly gets to live beyond 2 nights or a weekend!
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0e8ojL0vcc
Cooking Time: 20 minutes prep + 1 hour baking
Makes: Enough to fill a 2.5 qt baking dish
Ingredients:
- Bananas – 4 regular size or 6 small (very ripe ones)
- All purpose flour (maida) – 2 cups
- Baking soda – 1 tsp
- Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
- Butter – 1 stick i.e., 1/2 cup
- Sugar – 1.25 cups or to taste
- Salt – a pinch
- Eggs – 2
- Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
- Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt – 4 tbsp
Method:
- Add butter (at room temperature) and sugar to a mixing bowl and mix it together with a spoon or fork or spatula, until they come together fully.
- Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix together until fully blended.
- Add the sour cream/ Greek yogurt and mix together.
- Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda, along with a pinch of salt, and fold together until a smooth mixture is formed.
- Whisk or puree the bananas and add to the mixture and mix together with the other dough-mixture.
- Add crushed/ broken walnuts and fold into the mixture.
- Pour this mixture into a baking tray or pan, which has been greased with some butter all over.
- Optionally, sprinkle some more walnuts all over the top of the cake mixture for more nuttiness!
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour. Check by poking the cake with a tooth pick or edge of sharp knife and if it comes through without any wetness the cake is done.
Notes:
- The recipe calls for sour cream, but since I don’t usually have it handy at home I tried substituting with Greek yogurt one time and it turned out to be about the same. So you could use either item for infusing moisture into the bread.
- I do not have any cake making/ baking gadgets to help with preparation and it does not take too long even if you are using a spoon or whisk. So don’t let that stop you from trying to make this utterly delicious dish at home!
- You can adjust the sweetness to your taste. I add more bananas if at all possible and reduce the amount of sugar used. But remember that if you use more bananas, the dough is loose and takes 5-10 minutes longer to bake.
Aish Cooks 
can you make this using whole milk instead of yougurt or cream cheese
What quantity of walnuts do you use in this recipe?
Hi Nancy, 1/2 to 3/4 cups should be good for this recipe. I like more nuts so might have even done 1 whole cup 🙂 hope you like the cake as much as we do!!
It says to bake in a 2 1/2 qt. baking dish. Is that a bread pan?
Hi Marilyn,
I’ve made this with either a corning-ware and glass bake-safe dishes. I suppose you could use any baking dish that would be the right size for the amount of the batter – a bread pan or any other round/square/rectangular one will work.
Do let me know if you try it out – this one is a winner every time!
– Aish
hi Aishoo,
Remember me? – Bhagya 🙂 I tried this recipe and turned out very well ..Thank You !!
hey Bhagya.. yes, I do remember you 🙂 glad it turned out good for you!!! thanks for letting me know.. it means a lot 🙂
Can we make this without egg??
Hi Urmi,
This version of the recipe calls for eggs, but I guess there are recipes that could be found to make an egg-less banana cake.
Thanks,
Aishwariya
Absolutely Yummy!!!!………………..So I am told:) I baked it and sent it to my husband for his Office and he called back to say that it was wiped clean. Infact he also got half a slice to taste!!! He usually is very critical of food but this time he said that this was perfect.
Will definitely make it again. The only thing I did different is that used 3 medium banans instead of 4 as I had only 3 at home.
Thanks for a great recipe!!!!!!
Hi Anmol,
Great to know and I am glad you all liked it so much!! Its a favorite with us too.. 🙂
– Aishwariya
Hi.. Just wanted to ask u.. Is baking powder and soda both needed.. Can this be made with just baking soda alone? Thanx
Hello Athulya,
It would be much safer to go with baking powder if you have to pick just 1 of the 2 leavening agents. It’s not simple to substitute baking powder as you will need to replace it by mixing together cream of tarter and baking soda – to substitute 1 tsp baking powder it is recommended to use 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and 1/4 tsp baking soda. I would suggest keeping the baking powder as called for in the recipe and you could leave out the baking soda if you must – it would slightly reduce the tenderness n moisture of the cake. Hope it works out well.
~ Aishwariya
Mmmm… I will definitely try this recipe! Thanks!
Thank you.. do let me know how it turns out!
Yummy,Tummy.MMMMMMMMMMMMMMuah!