Walnut & Banana Bread Recipe

I have previously shared my versatile banana cake recipe and a banana & walnut loaf recipe. I always seem to have masses of bananas in my freezer now that I am successfully growing bananas at home and had always heard people talk about banana bread but I was never quite sure whether it was just banana loaf or something different – so I investigated …

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what the difference actually is between banana cake, banana loaf and banana bread. A traditional banana cake is made like a butter cake with the addition of mashed banana for flavour. Banana bread has a firmer more dense texture than banana cake and is great for slicing and toasting. Banana loaf seems to fall somewhere in the middle: possibly just banana cake made in a loaf tin or more like banana bread but with a lighter texture.

This is a Walnut & Banana Bread recipe that does indeed produce a denser texture that is good for slicing and toasting.

A good supply of lady finger bananas.

125g Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 eggs
2 cup Standard Grade Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 cup Milk
2 bananas (ripe), mashed
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 180°C bake. Grease and line a 25cm loaf pan.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and beat well.

Sift in flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Dissolve baking soda in milk. Add to creamed butter mixture with bananas. Mix together well and then add walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack. Best served the next day.

Freezes well – either as a whole loaf or sliced into individual slices for easy access.