Simple and Delicious Banana Walnut Cake (Super Fragrant!)
It's cold outside, and eating a piece of banana walnut cake is incredibly comforting. Its calorie count is relatively low. Think of traditional pound cake, which requires 100g of butter and 100g of sugar for every 100g of flour. This banana cake can definitely be considered low-sugar and low-fat. With the addition of bananas, its texture becomes extremely moist. Even with a low fat content, it's still soft and delicious. The key point: Simple! 【Banana Walnut Cake】(One 6-inch round mold)
Ingredients
Steps
First, process the bananas. Mash 100g of banana into banana puree. ★ I used a Junbei wireless blender. Bananas are inherently soft fruits, so if you don't have a blender, you can use a spatula to repeatedly mash and mix the banana until it turns into a puree. Alternatively, place the banana in a plastic bag and press or knead it with your hands until it becomes a puree. ★ 100g of banana is roughly equal to one medium-sized banana, but it's still recommended to measure it accurately. Use fully ripe bananas for a more intense flavor in the cake.
In another large bowl, soften the butter (if it's cold, you can soften it by placing it over warm water or using a microwave; make sure to soften it only, not melt into a liquid). Add the salt and fine granulated sugar, and whip the butter with an electric beater. Whip until the butter visibly expands and its color lightens. Start by manually mixing the butter and sugar with the beater turned off, then turn it on to whip. This prevents sugar from flying everywhere.
Break the whole egg into a bowl and beat it into an even liquid. Add one-third of the beaten egg into the whipped butter and mix thoroughly with the electric beater. Once the butter and egg are fully combined, add another one-third of the egg, and continue mixing thoroughly with the beater. Repeat until all the egg is mixed in.
Add 20g of sifted cake flour to the mixture and mix thoroughly with the electric beater. Finally, add the remaining egg mixture and continue to mix until smooth. The butter batter is now ready. Since the amount of egg is relatively large, the butter may struggle to absorb all of it. Adding some of the flour before the remaining egg helps prevent the mixture from separating.
Add the prepared banana puree to the butter batter. Lightly mix with a spatula; it doesn't need to be perfectly blended. Combine the remaining cake flour with the baking powder, sift them, and add to the butter batter. Use a spatula to mix thoroughly until the ingredients are well combined into a moist batter.
Pour the batter into a 6-inch round cake mold (if the mold is nonstick, grease it to prevent sticking). Evenly sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top. Use raw walnuts; no need to toast them beforehand. Alternatively, you can use a pound cake mold (loaf pan) for baking.
Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F) with both top and bottom heating elements. Place the cake mold on the lower rack of the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes until the cake fully rises and the surface turns golden brown. Insert a toothpick into the cake center and pull it out; if nothing sticks to the toothpick, the cake is done. Adjust the baking time and temperature according to your oven. I used a Junbei steam oven.
After baking, let the cake cool slightly, then remove it from the mold and place it on a cooling rack to cool completely. Note that this cake isn't very tall; its appearance is relatively flat.