Moist Banana Walnut Cake

Near my workplace is a market where there is row of fruit stalls, and they are always stocked up with the freshest fruits, ever so colourful with the varieties that are available. If I go in the evening to get my oranges for my vit C boost, most of the time I would end up buying more than just oranges. Not that I'm going the healthy trend, it's just an impulse-buying behaviour, if you know what I mean. Just last week, I got a bunch of ripe bananas and they are real cheap at 80 cents! I thought I would have the time and energy to do some baking during the weekday, but days past and the bananas were all going very 'blacked-spotty'. Left with 2 choices - into the bin or bake something - and here I go:-

Ingredients/ Method:

300g self-raising flour, sifted

270g butter (would reduce amount by about 20% the next time)

3tbsp sour cream (replaced with plain yogurt)

1tsp vanilla essence

180g brown sugar

5 eggs, lightly beaten

8 small bananas, mashed

90g walnuts, toasted and chopped

1. Pre-heat oven at 180 deg C.
2. Cream butter, sugar and yogurt until light and fluffy.
3. Add in vanilla essence and beat well.
4. Dribble in eggs, about 1 tablespoon at a time, until all used up.
5. Fold in the flour gently, then add the mashed bananas.
6. Add in walnuts and stir gently to mix well. Leave some walnuts for the toppings.
7. Pour batter into lined cake tin and bake for 40 to 50 mins or until golden brown. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top of the batter.

(I used a 6 x 6 inch square tin and a 8 x 4.5 inch cake tin. The 6 x 6 inch square tin needs an extra 10-15 mins of baking time and i tent the cake during this extended time to prevent the cake from getting over-brown. The 8 x 4.5 inch cake tin is ready within 50 mins.)

The above recipe is 1.5x the original and some modifications made. If using original recipe, bake in 20cm cake tin for 40 to 50 mins.

I brought the cakes to the office for my colleagues and they like that the cake is moist & fragrant, not so sweet, and the crunchiness from walnuts.

Lastly, I would also like to thank some of colleagues who have always help me to cut and distribute the cakes (into 30++ small pieces), and this time around, helped me in taking some of the pictures for my blog, and of course 'guinea pigs' for my baking adventure! Aren't they helpful and lovely? Or am I fortunate to have them as my colleagues?