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As you might have seen on my social media, I have just received the March Bake Off Box! This month, the box included a recipe for Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes. I baked them today and wanted to share the recipe with you guys if you wanted to give them a go! Whilst the recipe we got was good, I do have a few suggestion for how this recipe could maybe be improved – so let’s get straight into it!
If you want to find out more about the Bake Off Box, make sure you check out my reviews of both this month’s Bake Off Box #2 and the Bake Off Box #1 from February! I have also uploaded an unboxing video as long as a Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes bake-along to my YouTube channel, so make sure to check that out below!
Check out the video here:
Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes – Original Recipe + My “Improvements”
Using the Creaming Method
This month’s Bake Off Box recipe, titled Banana and Walnut Mini Loaves, was extremely quick to make and easy to follow. The recipe does, however, use the creaming method, which is probably one of the hardest cake making methods out there, as you run the risk of curdling the mixture. Before making these Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes, I would therefore recommend you check out my Baking Basics Post on the 5 Cake Making Methods to read some of my tips for success!
The most important thing is to whip plenty of air into the butter and sugar mix, and then to add the eggs gradually with some flour, to prevent the mixture from curdling! Don’t worry if it curdles (happens to the best of us!), you can still use the batter, but the resulting cake just won’t have as light and spongy a texture!
The Batter
Like all banana cakes, this recipe probably tastes best if you use really ripe bananas! When the banana skins are brown/black, the bananas are extremely mushy and you think they are past their best – that is exactly when you should be adding them to your bakes! At this stage, the bananas are full of sweetness and perfect for baking!
When making this recipe, I accidentally added all of the walnuts to the loaf cakes, rather than reserving 20g for the decoration. This was actually a “good” mistake though, as personally, I loved the walnuts in the cake and could have even done with some more! So, I have suggested you add 80g of walnuts to the batter and use an additional 20g for decorations in my version of the recipe below (the original suggested 60g for the batter, 20g for deco). If you don’t like (or have walnuts), I think pecan nuts would be a really lovely addition to this recipe, too.
The Buttercream
In addition, these Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes were decorated with a buttercream icing. This isn’t something I have done or seen before, but it actually works quite nicely with these cakes! I am not the biggest fan of buttercream though, and often find it just tastes “too much like butter”. To get the taste right, I usually aim for a 1:2 ratio of butter and icing sugar, which is why I was surprised to see this recipe only using 100g of icing sugar to 135g of butter! In my opinion, that wasn’t enough sugar, so if I were to make this recipe again, I’d add more icing sugar to make the buttercream taste… well… less like butter! Make sure to check out my Buttercream Baking Basics post for more info on how to make the perfect buttercream!
Also, I was really tempted to add a little flavouring to the buttercream. I would at least add some vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste next time (that never goes wrong), and I was also thinking that ½ tsp of ground cinnamon would have gone really nicely as well! Another thought I had, was that a cream cheese frosting would also go very well with these Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes – and would mean avoiding buttercream (me no like…)! I would probably use the recipe from my Easy Carrot Cake Traybake Recipe – that is simply the best!
More Great British Bake Off Inspired Recipes
I obviously love the Great British Bake Off and I have a lot more GBBO-inspired recipes on my blog! I have listed a few of my favourites below, so make sure you go and check them out!
- Paul´s Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes with Vanilla Custard
- Mary Berry´s Strawberry Fraisier Cake
- Classic Victoria Sponge Cake
- Viennese Whirls | British Baking Classic
- Mary Berry´s Bakewell Tart with Feathered Icing
- Paul´s Mini Pork Pies
- Mini Chocolate and Raspberry Sandwich Cakes
- Paul Hollywood´s Hand-Raised Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pie
- Mary Berry´s Frosted Walnut Layer Cake
- Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska
- Paul Hollywood´s Mini Custard Tarts
- Swiss Roll Cake with Strawberries and Cream
- Mary Berry´s Viennese Whirls | British Baking Basic
- GBBO Signature Chocolate Cake | Bake Off Box #1
- Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes | Bake Off Box #2
Mini Walnut and Banana Loaf Cakes (My Version) | Bake Off Box #2
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE MINI WALNUT AND BANANA LOAF CAKES:
- 3 very ripe bananas (~300g once peeled)
- 115g unsalted butter, softened
- 120g caster sugar
- 50g soft light brown sugar
- 2 M eggs
- ½ tsp salt
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 80g walnuts, roughly chopped
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM:
- 135g butter, softened
- 200-250g icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste
- ½ – 2 tbsp milk (if needed)
TO DECORATE:
- 20g walnuts, chopped
- 30-40g dried banana chips
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- 1 8-hole miniature loaf tin (available from the Bake Off Box website), or something similar (e.g. muffin tray)
- 1 large mixing bowl
- Electric hand whisk
- Wire cooling rack
- Piping bag
Method:
- Lightly grease the miniature loaf mould and preheat the oven to 190°C. Place the silicone mould (is using) onto a baking tray.
- In a small bowl, roughly mash the bananas with a fork, then set aside until needed. Weigh the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate, cinnamon, and salt into a separate bowl and mix together, then set aside for later.
- Put the softened butter, caster sugar, and soft light brown sugar into the mixing bowl, and cream together using an electric mixer for 3-5 minutes. The mixture should become light, fluffy, and paper in colour.
- Next, add in one of the eggs alongside 1 heaped tablespoon of the flour mix. Beat with the electric whisk for about one minute until fully incorporated. Add in the second egg with another large spoonful of flour and whisk again until combined.
- Add the remaining flour mixture to the bowl, a third at a time, whisking well between each addition. With the last third of the flour, mix in the mashed banana.
- Lastly, using a large metal spoon or spatula to stir the chopped walnuts into the cake mix.
- Divide the batter equally between the 8 holes of the loaf tin (roughly 125g batter per cake). Level the surfaces, then bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen, golden brown, and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Leave the mini walnut and banana loaf cakes to cool in the mould for 10 minutes, then carefully remove and set them on a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the buttercream, put the butter and vanilla extract/bean paste into a clean mixing bowl and whisk for about 3-5 minutes until fluffy and pale in colour. Sift in half of the icing sugar and whisk (mix slowly at first to ensure the icing sugar doesn’t fly everywhere), then sift in the icing sugar and whisk again until fully incorporated. The buttercream should be of a smooth, stiff yet pipeable consistency, so whisk in a little bit of milk if it is too stiff. You might want to taste it at this stage to check if it needs more vanilla, and you could also flavour it with a little extra ground cinnamon, if you like.
- Spoon the buttercream into the piping bag (check out the video to see how) then snip off the end to give a 1cm hole. Pipe the buttercream back-and-forth in an S-shape down the length of each mini loaf.
- Decorate with the banana chips and the scatter over the chopped walnuts.
