Banana Coconut and Walnut Cake

Name: Banana Coconut and Walnut Cake
Ingredients: 3 ripe bananas (Indian bananas are usually smaller, so use 4); 250 gm. <a href="/recipe_display.php?id=13031">self raising flour</a>; 75 gm. desiccated coconut, try to buy unsweetened one; 200 gm. softened butter or margarine at room temperature or use ghee; 220 gm. caster sugar (fine brown sugar either light or dark, is also very good in this recipe); 2 standard sized eggs; 100 gm. thick yoghurt. Hang in muslin for an hours if yours is too thin.; 1 tsp. cinnamon powder; 1/2 tsp. mixed spice (use <a href="/recipe/garam-masala/">Garam Masala</a>, if you don't have this); 75 gm walnuts, roughly chopped; 18 x 8 cm. or 7 1/2" x 3 1/2" loaf tin or 20-25 cm. or 8-10 inch round cake tin.

Roopika Mathur

Cake Dessert Snack Sweet

I love banana cake, with or without walnuts. If you have never made it, give it a try.

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas (Indian bananas are usually smaller, so use 4)
250 gm. self raising flour
75 gm. desiccated coconut, try to buy unsweetened one
200 gm. softened butter or margarine at room temperature or use ghee
220 gm. caster sugar (fine brown sugar either light or dark, is also very good in this recipe)
2 standard sized eggs
100 gm. thick yoghurt. Hang in muslin for an hours if yours is too thin.
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp. mixed spice (use Garam Masala, if you don't have this)
75 gm walnuts, roughly chopped
18 x 8 cm. or 7 1/2" x 3 1/2" loaf tin or 20-25 cm. or 8-10 inch round cake tin.

Instructions

Heat oven to 175°C/325°F/Gas (10°C less in fan oven).
Toast the coconut in a non-stick pan until very lightly pink/brown. You can cook it in a microwave, spread out on a plate and cook on full power for 3 minute +2 minutes +1 minute, stirring in between. Allow to cool.
Grease the cake tin with a little butter or ghee. Put all the coconut in the tin, move it around to cover all surfaces and then tip the rest out onto a plate. This tipped out coconut will be added to cake batter.
Break eggs in a small bowl and beat a little.
Place butter/margarine/ghee and sugar in a large bowl and beat until creamy and fluffy.
Now add eggs to the ghee-sugar mix, a little at a time, beating all the time, until the mix is creamy and fluffy again.
Add mashed bananas, yoghurt, spices and leftover coconut. Fold them in gently.
Sift the flour on top and gently fold it in with a wooden or plastic spatula, using figure of 8 movements.
Add walnuts and fold them in.
Pour into the tin, shake to distribute evenly and make a dip/line in the centre. This will ensure even rising.
Cook in the centre of the oven, for 1 hour 25 minutes. Check after 1 hours, because oven performances vary. The cake should be springy but firm when ready. A wooden skewer inserted in its centre should come out moist but clean. If you do not have a skewer, use a tooth pick.
Allow to cool on a wire rack. Turn the tin over and gently tap the cake out.