Banana and walnut cake recipe

Banana and walnut cake makes a great upgrade to a classic banana bread. Topped with a lovely buttercream frosting, it's the ultimate afternoon slice. 

Just like banana bread, this cake is a great way to use up your bananas which are on the turn. The riper, the better. We've baked this cake in a loaf tin format, which makes it really handy to have if guests turn up unexpectedly. It's so easy to just cut off a slice and it's unbeatable with afternoon cuppa. We think you should get 10 slices from this cake, but obviously that depends how generous you are with your cutting (and to be honest, we think there's nothing wrong with being generous). If you don't fancy the sweetness of a frosting over the top you can leave it plain, or serve with a thin spreading of butter or a dollop of thick cream.

Ingredients

• 175g (6oz) butter, softened
• 175g (6oz) caster sugar
• 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 2 tsp ground mixed spice
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 3 large eggs
• 50g (2oz) walnuts, chopped
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed with 10ml (2tsp) lemon juice

For the frosting:

• 175g (6oz) reduced-fat soft cheese e.g. Philadelphia
• 50g (2oz) icing sugar
• Chopped walnuts and mixed spice, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Grease and line the base and up two sides of a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with parchment.
2. Place the butter, sugar, flour, spice, baking powder and eggs in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until thoroughly combined. Fold in the walnuts and mashed bananas.
3. Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the surface. Bake for 1 hr-1 hr 10 mins until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out on to a rack to cool completely.
4. Beat together the soft cheese and icing sugar and spread over the cold loaf. Decorate with the walnuts and mixed spice.

Tips for making banana and walnut cake

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the mixture, adding in any leftover dates or chocolate chips for an extra punch of flavour.

Why is my banana cake with walnuts not cooked in the middle?

This is either due to your oven not being hot enough, or being too hot. If it's too hot, the outside of the cake will cook before the inside has a change to bake. The easiest fix is to buy an oven thermometer (you can pick them up from cook shops for about £5 or less) so you can accurately check the temperature in the oven. If you need to bake it for longer without the outside cooking more, cover with aluminium foil and set the cake lower down in the oven.

Why is my banana cake dense and rubbery?

For banana cake with a light fluffy texture, don't overmix the ingredients. Overmixing affects the levels of gluten in the cake and can leave it feeling rubbery. Mix the ingredients gently until they're just combined.

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