I'd read that walnut oil will keep baking moist and give it a mild nutty flavour so I created this easy banana and walnut oil loaf to see if it would work for me.
Normally I'd add walnuts to a banana bread but that could have overwhelmed the walnut oil flavour which I wanted to taste so I left them out.
I made the loaf in the morning. It improved on standing. I think it would have been a good keeper but it was all gone by the end of the day.
The result was met with mixed feelings. My partner said it lacked flavour and was too stodgy. My friend Joan liked it buttered with avocado olivani. She said she could detect a slightly nutty flavour
I felt that the walnut oil should have been the dominant flavour, but it didn't really stand out clearly against the vanilla and rum essence.
Still this loaf was good with a cup of tea . Once it had been left to cool for a few hours it sliced beautifully .
Would I use it again in baking? It is healthier than butter as it is high in antioxidants and comparatively low in saturated fats. And it does keep baking moist so that's also in its favour.
But I think the nutty flavour is rather mild and as it is much more expensive then butter or other vegetable oils like sunflower oil I'd only use it very occasionally in baking. I have heard it is good in a carrot or apple cake.
Walnut oil has a low smoking point so if you use it in loaves, muffins or cakes bake them at a moderate temperature.
Normally I'd add walnuts to a banana bread but that could have overwhelmed the walnut oil flavour which I wanted to taste so I left them out.
I made the loaf in the morning. It improved on standing. I think it would have been a good keeper but it was all gone by the end of the day.
The result was met with mixed feelings. My partner said it lacked flavour and was too stodgy. My friend Joan liked it buttered with avocado olivani. She said she could detect a slightly nutty flavour
I felt that the walnut oil should have been the dominant flavour, but it didn't really stand out clearly against the vanilla and rum essence.
Still this loaf was good with a cup of tea . Once it had been left to cool for a few hours it sliced beautifully .
Would I use it again in baking? It is healthier than butter as it is high in antioxidants and comparatively low in saturated fats. And it does keep baking moist so that's also in its favour.
But I think the nutty flavour is rather mild and as it is much more expensive then butter or other vegetable oils like sunflower oil I'd only use it very occasionally in baking. I have heard it is good in a carrot or apple cake.
Walnut oil has a low smoking point so if you use it in loaves, muffins or cakes bake them at a moderate temperature.
Banana Loaf
Ingredients:
- 3 ripe All Good Fair Trade bananas, smashed
- 1/3 cup walnut oil
- 3/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon of rum essence
- 1 cup of self raising flour
- 1/2 cup of plain flour
- pinch of salt
Method
Mash the bananas with a fork or wooden spoon.
Mix in the oil, brown sugar and essences
Beat the egg with a fork and stir in
Sift the two flours and add.
Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan
Bake at 175 degrees C for about 50 minutes .
Cool on a rack before slicing.
Beat the egg with a fork and stir in
Sift the two flours and add.
Pour the mixture into a greased loaf pan
Bake at 175 degrees C for about 50 minutes .
Cool on a rack before slicing.
Hi Beth – I guess it used to be that your personal recipes are what made you special, so people made an effort to keep them secret. I come from the camp which is that recipes are meant to be shared, good ones with as many people as possible. That way we improve everyone’s cooking and eating. Still, it is nice to have those old special recipes, isn’t it?
Hi David – ooooh. That sounds really good. Never would have thought to put espresso in with the banana.
Hi Sherpa – I’m assuming you mean the sweetened, moist, grated coconut? We add that to cakes and it is wonderful for the texture.
Hi Joyce – I’m not a big fan of chocolate chips but many are. Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks.
And then I crush another 1/4 cup of walnuts, mix that with 1/4 cup brown sugar, and sprinkle that over the top just before putting it in the oven. :)
Can anyone tell me?
Just made this banana bread this morning. It is great! Added a cup of whole walnuts. Thanks for sharing.
Writing from Zambia and think this is a great recipe. I put chocolate icing on the cake when finished. It is delicious!
Thanks for the great recipe!
I’ve tried it with some fresh crushed plums, and that worked very well. I’ve also found that using just-ripe bananas (instead of brown and overripe bananas) gives it a good banana flavor. Also, I try to use 4 bananas instead of 3.
Of course, nuts and raisins are always a possibility.
Love,
Heaven
This is the first time I’ve ever made banana bread, but I don’t think I’ll look much further for another recipe.
Many thanks!!!
Thank-you for sharing this one!
Well I have to tell you, my daughters friend wanted in on the action, so they donated eggs & flour, and my daughter made this up ( don’t you love the beauty of kids old enough to do your baking for you?! :-D). We used 20 bananas and X’ed the recipe by 5, except for the sugar, which we only went up to 4 cups instead of 5. (Based on the fact that the bananas were QUITE ripe, and therefore contained more sugars).
I have to tell you, this banana bread surpasses my own grandmothers recipe, and THAT is saying a LOT! (I couldn’t find hers, mom was unavailable, hence the googled recipe in the 1st place).
Unfortunately, even at the 5 loaves and 2 trays of muffins that we got out of this, only ONE loaf is left!! All the rest disappeared still hot out of the oven! Now I have to run back to WinCo and get more bananas so I can put SOME to rest in the freezer.
Thank you and thank you again for posting the best EASY SIMPLE banana bread recipe I have EVER tasted! ( ANd what a HEAVENLY aroma, we had two neighbors just WAITING for it to get out of the oven!)
~Cara~
I have a 10 month old daughter and a 9 year old son and the baby is into EVERYTHING so the simpler the better! I just made this batch with a baby on my hip, as a matter of fact! It doesn’t get much easier than that and the results ALWAYS taste wonderful!
As with any quick bread, do your darndest to mix the batter as LITTLE as possible – lumps will work themselves out. They’re supposed to be there. Mix just BARELY to blend the ingredients. This is why it’s a great idea, in this recipe, to add the leavening agent to the creamed butter mixture. That guarantees even distribution. Do likewise with all your quick breads, rather than trying to sift it into the flour. I don’t sift much any more anyway. Tests have shown that a wisk blends dry ingredients better than any sifter can. I only sift now to add air to a flour mixture, for extremely delicate cakes and such. For other recipes, if I’m going to wisk, I remove a TB of flour per cup from that called for, when it says to sift. Sifting changes the quantity of flour, making it less. So if you wisk the flour, remove a TB from each cup called for.
I would, however, add two of my own personal touches – I add them to any apple or banana bread recipe: a bit of cinnamon and a handful or two of coarsely-chopped nuts (walnuts are best, but pecans are no slouch). Since I have never personally enjoyed mixing chocolate with fruits of any kind, I’d pass on the Kaluha.
The idea of mixing in some applesauce sounds kinda nice. I might try it next time, if this recipe proves itself good. Or finely-chopped raw Granny apple. Both fruits take well to the nuts and cinnamon, too.
In my dotage, I have also learned a few interesting things. Whatever pan is used, for any kind of cake or bread, line the bottom with waxed paper or parchment: first generously butter the pan’s entire interior, then lay down the paper, then generously butter it, too. The paper guarantees that the bottom won’t get stuck, and your cake or bread won’t come out in pieces. Sides can be loosened with a knife, but not the bottom. Don’t use oil, because it slips away. A generous amount of butter (or margarine) will give the crust a particularly good taste, too. Use a minimum of flour. I hardly add any flour any more. The paper and buttering seems to be enough. I’ve found that the butter refuses to stick in spots if the pan is even remotely moist. If you’re going to wash the pan before buttering it, give it lots of time for invisible moisture to dry off. If the problem arises, wait for it to dry, then finish buttering it. You can’t always see the moisture that causes this. Try as you may, the butter won’t coat those spots until it is dry. That’s one reason why it’s best to prepare the pan before beginning to mix the batter. You don’t want the batter to have to wait. It should be mixed and immediately poured.
If your recipe is one which might benefit by having a crispy-flaky kind of sugary crust, don’t flour the pan; sugar it amply after buttering and papering. White sugar only, though, because brown will make the cake stick and can easily scorch. Even if it doesn’t, you’d end up with something resembling pecan sticky buns. Don’t sugar the bottom, although some is bound to land there. It isn’t necessary. After pouring in the batter, you could also dot the top with butter (or coat the top with cooled melted butter) and sugar it liberally, also. You might even like the idea of pressing nuts into the sugar and butter at the sides of the pan before pouring in the batter. Watch carefully, though, to insure that the nuts don’t scorch. A transparent pan can make this easy to do.
Nowhere is it carved in stone that banana or apple bread MUST be baked in a loaf pan! A square or round cake pan would do well – you might need two. To find out, fill a loaf pan with water, then pour it into the other kind of pan. If the level there isn’t more than 2/3 up the sides, it’ll hold the same amount as the loaf pan. If not, you’ll have to use a second pan, and neither of them may rise enough to please you. You could make 1 1/2 recipe, though, and that’d probably solve that problem.
When I say “butter,” you can always substitute margarine – use a good buttery-tasting brand, though. Not even the butter-flavored Crisco. Use a margarine. I almost never use butter any more – the cholesterol, y’know.
There’s nothing on a cold winter evening than a slice of fresh-from-the-oven banana bread (with or without a pat of butter melting enticingly) and a cup of tea or coffee!
Yes, Renee, you can substitute whole wheat pastry flour (ground finer than the average whole wheat flour) and never know the difference.
This bread sounds good, but what do you have on the top of it? We are not used to this kind of bread in Norway but I have a Canadian friend that gonna make it tomorrow. Looking forward to taste.
Trygve
In our house, we spread some butter on each slice!
Candy
Thank you very much for sharing this simple yet wholesome recipe.
Charity
This morning, I’ve used some honey in place of the sugar. I can also testify that plantains work as well as regular bananas in this cake.
I’m going to laminate a copy of the recipe and tack it to the RV wall. No matter where I am, baking it will bring back memories of Mexico. Thank you!
I highly recommend adding some rum and chopped macademia nuts. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’ve added this site to my favorites :)
Regards from Colombia,
Diana
Thanks for the recipe, Joel, Edmonton, AB
Yep, even the crust tastes delicious. I don’t really understand how it is so moist. I’ve tried plenty of other recipes, and this one with less ingredients does seem particularly moist.. just goes to show that simpler is better!
Thanks.
We’ll use this recipe as our banana bread standard and try some of the variations listed!
Thanks so much for this yummy banana bread recipe!
I added cinnamon and a little grated apple and a few broken up walnuts. It tastes lovely but doesn’t really look like a conventional cake. Will try again using baking SODA. Bye
dessicated coconut (replace some of the flour) and then sprinkled on top!
walnuts
oats (gives it a little more texture)
…
the ideas with coffee, orange/lime juice and liqueurs are great! i shall have to try them out next time :)
…
i havent tried it myself but i suspect dates would be a wonderful addition…
Tried this recipe. Tweaked a bit and posted the recipe on my blog.
Wanted to thank you as it was my first time baking. We enjoyed the cake !
Thanks…Soumya
My change:
Once I have poured the mixture into the pan I mix chocolate chips into the top, that way they don’t stick to the bottom and burn.
Also if you use Banana’s that are not completely ripe the recipe turns into more of a dessert recipe than it already is.
Tried different recipes before, this one is the best, although I halved the sugar as bananas seem quite sweet anyway.
cheers
A note on the baking time: I set my timer for 40 minutes instead of an hour. The bread started smelling a little too done and I still had 7 minutes left on the timer. I checked it and the crust was very dark brown, close to burning. I was afraid that the inside would be over baked and dry, but it wasn’t. It was still fairly moist. But I will try this again and lower the oven temperature. I was very surprised that the baking time for my loaf was so far off from what the recipe stated. The oven was set at 350 degrees.
Thanks!
Melissa H.
Oklahoma
I also add dashes of spices (cinnamon, all spice & ginger) which adds a bit more depth. I absolutely love, love, LOVE this recipe though.
~Flobear~
I tried this recipe lots of times – although each time it’s great right out of the oven, it then kinda collapses and gets really dense. What am I doing wrong?
Worked out just fine :-)
Since I’ve been diagnosed, I started using sunflower or coconut oils for baking and although the product lacks “buttery” taste, it tastes better and is much more fragrant than with margarines and substitutes. So, my verdict, if you need to lower cholesterol or have dietary restrictions, don’t be afraid of plain old oil.
The only thing I did differently was first mushing the bananas and sugar, which makes the bananas “melt” beautifully. Then I added the wet ingredients, then flour.
I only made one mistake … I made it from from half a batch … bad idea, I think it’s about to be gone in one sitting.
As for someone asking how come this recipe seems so flexible allowing changes and additions, I’m putting in my two cents … I think it has to do with the consistency of bananas, which contain natural sugars and starches. They simply “hold together” whatever else you mix in.
I’ve had similar experience with apple sauce based recipes. You can’t afford to do something like that in Angel Food Cake, where the whole idea is based on whipped egg whites or other “delicate” recipes. But unless you’re trying to be a confectioner, normal baking is rather flexible.
Try to develop a feel for the batter before it goes in. Every flour has different absorbing capacity (depending on the grain, storage etc.), so thinking you’ll “do everything right” as you measure everything precisely is besides the point. The final batter needs to “feel right” and if it doesn’t, you need to add more liquids or flour. It’s really that simple.
I consistently use my “whatever big European cup I have around” for US recipes and it works fine. I’m guessing I could be off by something like a 1/2 cup of flour in some recipes and it’s still OK. If your cake fails, it’s seldom due to the ingredients, but rather all the physics involving baking – the oven temperature in the beginning, the temperature while cooling etc.
If you are a beginner, look for recipes that contain such natural “glues” like fruit or even vegetables (I know excellent sweet cakes made from potatoes or zucchini, for instance). They provide both moisture and the stickiness. That’s a good way to start. And as another person mentioned here, in these cases, I also vote for slightly lower temperature and longer time, if needed, so they don’t end up mushy.
I must say that reading all these interesting tips from around the world is really uplifting. I grew up in a country that was “closed off” from the rest of the world by an “iron curtain” and although Internet is my daily bread, I still get surprised to see it work so well, all across the globe. I think your Banana Bread recipe did more for world peace than most governments lately :-)
Thanks heaps!
Misha
Czech Republic
Use brown sugar instead of white and reduce amount to 1/4-3/4 depending on your taste,
Instead of that whole proportion of white flour use half whole wheat flour and half (SECRET INGREDIENT:) grapenuts cereal! (no one will know what it is, but everyone will comment on its wholesome, rich texture… the grape nuts get extremely soft after covered in the hot melted butter the recipe calls for and baked)
The most important tip of all: use OVERRIPE bananas that are completely black and about to mold.
And of course, personalize it by adding your favorite add-ins: chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, raisins, craisins, dried banana chips, etc
TRY it, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Note from Elise: Plain flour.
And also to Thomas, just plain white flour will do, that’s what I’ve used the several times I’ve made this recipe and it’s come out just as fantastic each time.
I followed this recipe according to specs, However, I used self rising flour, I substitued a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 of white.
3/4 cup mik and added a 6oz. banana yogurt. 1/2 cup of coconut
and fresh pineapple pieces cut very small. The result is “fabuloso”.
serve warm with honey butter or Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice screamed!!!
Note from Elise: Generally it’s not a good idea to substitute baking soda for baking powder or vice-versa in baking recipes. But, given your circumstances why don’t you try it and see how it turns out for you?