Banana Cake

This recipe is adapted from the same magazine and article as my previously posted Apple Cake. It is by Fern Raleigh of Windom, Kansas and won the top prize in the Kansas State Fair. Very easy to make and if you choose you can do the mixing all by hand. Although using an electric mixer will give you better results. It originally says to bake it in a loaf pan but I used muffin pans and reduced the baking time and it's still good. Like the apple cake, this is supposed to be a "bread". Again I took the liberty of calling it a cake since the end product is quite sweet. As usual I reduced the sugar by a lot - it was supposed to be 1 1/2 cups! At 1 cup it still is sweet. The nuts for me is optional, I have often done this without it and it does not seem to affect the result much. Please see the note below the recipe for the substitute for buttermilk. My children behaved a little better this time around. Before, once the muffins come out of the oven they start eating it and soon I am left with more than a dozen muffins with no tops!

banana cupcakes

Banana-Walnut Cake

300 g  [2 cups] sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
125 g  [1/2 cup] unsalted butter - softened at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs - slightly beaten
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/fan 160C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan with butter or shortening (or put paper liners in a 12-cup muffin pan).
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a container.
3. Beat together sugar, butter and vanilla at moderate mixer speed for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
4. With mixer running, beat in eggs, then bananas.
5. By hand, stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, mixing after each addition only enough to moisten dry ingredients. (Add dry ingredients in thirds, buttermilk in two additions.)
6. Stir in walnuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading well to corners.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes (25-30 minutes for muffins) or until loaf is richly browned, begins to pull away from the sides of pan and is springy to the touch.
8. Cool bread in wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen loaf around edge with a small thin metal spatula. Invert; turn right side up. Cool completely.

*Note: If you don't have any buttermilk, you can make some: for every cup of buttermilk, put in 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice in a non-metal container then add milk to make 1 cup; do not stir, let stand and curdle for about 15 minutes.