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 teaspoon 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 / chocolate, 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.
