Image is for illustrative purposes only.
This is a banana cake made the liquid way: the bananas, eggs and oil are blended into a smooth batter that pours rather than spoons, which is why it comes out so even and so moist. There is no butter and no creaming, so it takes only minutes to put together, and the roasted cashews scattered through it give a soft crunch against the tender crumb.
The flavour is sweet and strongly of ripe banana, with a golden, slightly sticky crumb that keeps well for days and only improves overnight. Use it as a tea cake on its own, or as a layer cake base with caramel, cream cheese frosting or butter ganache — it is firm enough to slice into layers once it is properly cold.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
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Weight Per Unit: 1085
Number of Units: 2
Unit Size: 20 cm round tin, about 5 cm high
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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375 |
13.2 ounces
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Cake Flour
Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.
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sifted |
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B
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425 |
15 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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C
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7.5 |
0.3 ounce
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Baking Powder
Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid, and is used for increasing the volume and lightening the texture of baked goods. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. It is used instead of yeast for end-products where fermentation flavors would be undesirable or where the batter lacks the elastic structure to hold gas bubbles for more than a few minutes, or for convenience. Because carbon dioxide is released at a faster rate through the acid-base reaction than through fermentation, breads made by chemical leavening are called quick breads.
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sifted |
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D
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13 |
0.5 ounce
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Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate (a.k.a baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, and bicarbonate of soda), referred to as "baking soda", is primarily used in cooking (baking), as a leavening agent. It reacts with acidic components in batters, releasing carbon dioxide, which causes expansion of the batter and forms the characteristic texture and grain in pancakes, cakes, quick breads, soda bread, and other baked and fried foods. Acidic compounds that induce this reaction include phosphates, cream of tartar, lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa, vinegar, etc. Natural acids in sourdough can be leavened with the addition of small amounts as well. Sodium bicarbonate can be substituted for baking powder provided sufficient acid reagent is also added to the recipe. Many forms of baking powder contain sodium bicarbonate combined with calcium acid phosphate, sodium aluminium sulphate or cream of tartar.
Sodium bicarbonate was sometimes used in cooking vegetables, to make them softer, although this has gone out of fashion, as most people now prefer firmer vegetables. However, it is still used in Asian and Latin American cuisine to tenderise meats. Baking soda may react with acids in food, including vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid). It is also used in breadings such as for fried foods to enhance crispness.
Heat causes sodium bicarbonate to act as a raising agent by releasing carbon dioxide when used in baking. The carbon dioxide production starts at temperatures above 80 °C. Since the reaction does not occur at room temperature, mixtures (cake batter, etc.) can be allowed to stand without rising until they are heated in the oven.
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sifted |
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E
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200 |
7 ounces
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Cashew Nuts
Cashew nuts are the sweet, kidney-shaped kernels of the cashew tree, softer and less oily-tasting than most nuts. Lightly roasting them before use deepens their flavour and keeps them crisp inside a moist cake batter.
roughly chopped
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roasted |
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F
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625 |
5.2 Bananas
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Banana
Ripe bananas, weighed after peeling. Choose fruit that is well speckled, as the riper the banana the sweeter and more aromatic the finished filling.
frozen or very ripe pieces, peeled
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thawed |
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G
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225 |
4.5 Whole Eggs
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Whole Egg
Eggs are one of the most common ingredients in a typical cake. Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in baking. Usually an eggs role in a cake is to add moisture and richness, act as a raising agent as well as a glue to bind the ingredients together.
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room temperature |
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H
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300 |
1.3 cups
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Cooking Oil
Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavouring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and in this sense might be more accurately termed edible oil. Cooking oil is typically a liquid at room temperature, although some oils that contain saturated fat, such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are solid. There is a wide variety of cooking oils from plant sources such as olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil (rapeseed oil), corn oil, peanut oil and other vegetable oils, as well as animal-based oils like butter and lard. Oil can be flavoured with aromatic foodstuffs such as herbs, chillies or garlic.
neutral flavoured
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2170
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
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The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Roast |
Spread E (cashew nuts) on a tray and roast at 160°C (320°F) for 8 to 10 minutes, then cool completely and chop roughly. |
Golden and fragrant, not dark; must be cold before they go into the batter |
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2 |
Pre-heat |
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Grease two 20 cm round tins and line the bases with baking paper. |
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3 |
Blend |
Put F, G and H (banana, whole egg and oil) into a blender or a jug with a stick blender and blend until completely smooth. |
A thin, pale, pourable liquid with no lumps of banana left |
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4 |
Sift |
Sift A, C and D (cake flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda) together into a large bowl, then stir in B (caster sugar). |
Evenly mixed, no lumps |
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5 |
Mix |
Pour the banana liquid into the dry ingredients and mix until just smooth. |
A loose, pourable batter; do not overwork once the flour is wet |
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6 |
Fold |
Fold the roasted E (cashew nuts) through the batter. |
Nuts evenly spread through the mixture |
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7 |
Fill |
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared tins and tap them gently on the bench. |
Level surface, tins no more than two thirds full |
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8 |
Bake |
Bake at 170°C (340°F) for about 35 to 45 minutes. |
Well risen and golden, springs back when pressed and a skewer comes out clean |
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9 |
Cool |
Rest the cakes in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. |
Cool completely before cutting or layering |
Important Notes
The full scaled batch makes about 2,170 g of batter, enough for two 20 cm round cakes or one deep 25 cm cake. Roast the cashews first and let them cool — this is the chef's one note on this recipe, and it makes a large difference to the flavour. Frozen banana pieces work very well here; thaw them and use the juice that comes out of them as part of the weight. The cake keeps moist for three to four days wrapped well at room temperature, and freezes well whole or in layers.
Tools & Arrangements
Blender or stick blender, large mixing bowl, sieve, whisk or spatula, scales, baking tray for roasting the nuts, two 20 cm round cake tins, baking paper, cooling rack, skewer.
