4 servings
10 minutes
30 minutes
Easy
Banana cake is an essential ingredient for the success of an island party. The tropical bananas give the cake an amazing smell and moisture. Brimming with superb flavours and full of texture (even more so if you add nuts), this recipe is guaranteed to make moist banana cake every time. The most important ingredient after the ripe bananas has to be the yoghurt for this recipe. It retains the moisture in the cake mix and contrary to popular belief, doesn’t make the cake at all sour. In fact, it adds more depth and flavour to the recipe.
When I bake, I try to avoid using too much sugar. This is so that you can taste the other ingredients (and not feel guilty for eating more than one piece). But if you have a sweet tooth, add more sugar to your liking – my estimate of sugar for this recipe is also dependant on the sweetness of the bananas. Taste the bananas before mixing the other ingredients and that will help you to gauge how much sugar you want to add. Honey on the other hand, is also a fantastic sweetener if you want to cut down on the extra calories.
I often use this recipe and have not had a dry banana cake to date. Once I started adding yoghurt to the cake mix, it has always given me great results. If you want to add a more festive flavour to the basic cake, try adding some chopped dates, sultanas or nuts to the mix. This recipe feeds four.
Ingredients
- ¼ Cup Sugar (1/2 cup if you like it sweet)
- ½ Cup Butter
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
- 2 Eggs
- 1 ¾ Cup Self Raising Flour
- ½ Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 2 Ripe Bananas
- ½ Cup Yoghurt (Flavoured yoghurt works just as well)
- Sultanas or Raisins (Optional)
- Walnuts – Or Any Nuts (Optional)
- Dates (Optional)
Directions
- Sift flour and add salt and baking soda to the mixture. Keep these dry ingredients aside
- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs till light and fluffy, add vanilla and whisk again to combine
- Cream together butter and sugar till the sugar is dissolved (use butter at room temperature)
- Mash the bananas with a fork in a large glass bowl. Once the bananas are gooey, add yoghurt, butter, sugar and eggs to the bowl (See Note)
- Mix in the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) by gently folding the mixture
- Add in the nuts and sultanas, raisins or dates and fold gently
- Pour the batter into a greased, medium sized cake pan and top with more nuts before placing into a pre-heated oven
- Bake at 160 degrees or medium heat for 30 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean and the cake is golden in colour.
Note: If you don’t want to use yoghurt, you can also use melted white chocolate (3/4 Pkt) and 1/4 cup milk. Ensure that you minimise the use of sugar (I usually don’t put any more sugar if this is the case).
