This week’s cake for Korean class is a banana, chocolate and walnut cake. When I made last week’s cake and was asked for the recipe, Mr Gochugaru looked at the other students nervously and whispered: are you going to tell them you are just experimenting?
Honestly…
The thing is, I have been making cakes for a very long time and I instinctively know what will and will not work. So here is another cake with an unusual ingredient of walnuts coated in dark chocolate. It is not en experiment, I really know what I doing!
For the Cake:
150 g unsalted butter, softened
125 g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
175 g self-raising flour (white or wholemeal)
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
250 g bananas, peeled and lightly crushed
120 g chocolate coated walnuts, chopped roughly
OR
60 g whole walnuts, chopped roughly, and 60 dark chocolate chips
How to Make:
(for the conventional, non-Thermomix method of making this cake, please scroll right to the end of the post)
Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ Gas 4. Grease and line a 2-lb loaf tin.
Weigh the butter and sugar into the Thermomix bowl. Beat 15 seconds/ speed 5.
Scrape down the side of the bowl and beat again 15 seconds/ speed 5.
Add the eggs, flour and vanilla. Mix together 30 seconds/ speed 5.
Add the bananas and walnuts/ chocolate and mix 5 seconds/ REVERSE speed 5.
Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.
Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
The cake will slice into 10 thick or 12 medium-sized pieces – perfect for a sharing with friends.
How to make the cake in a conventional, non-Thermomix way.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ Gas 4. Grease and line a 2-lb loaf tin.
Weigh the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy.
Add the eggs, flour and vanilla. Beat together until everything is incorporated and you get a smooth batter.
Fold in the banana and walnuts and pour the mixture into the loaf tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.
Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
The cake will slice into 10 thick or 12 medium-sized pieces – perfect for a sharing with friends.
The vanilla extract was a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law, who is fortunate to live near Darts Farm Shop. It is made by littlePod who also make chocolate and coffee extracts.
