Banankage (Banana Cake with Walnuts and Chocolate Ganache)

A Flashback to 2020!

Now, I know nobody really wants to remember the terrible year of 2020, when the pandemic exploded. But it simultaneously feels like so long ago and just yesterday – does anyone else feel the same? One positive thing that came out of it for us, though, was Skandibaking. Because we had so much time on our hands and were stuck in the house, we started baking a lot. Soon, we were developing our own recipes and eventually created this blog. Now, we’ve been around for nearly 4 years, slowly building our following on social media and with a fantastic audience who bakes our recipes, sends us pictures, and leaves us wonderful comments and reviews. But for us, like everyone else, guess what it all started with? Banana bread.

Banana Bread or Banana Cake?

Putting bananas in cake and calling it “banana bread” is a wonderful invention. First of all, it’s a baked good made with overripe and cheap fruit. This can appeal to anyone who has ever come home to a few brown bananas on the kitchen counter. Second, it’s customizable, and you can add anything from peanut butter and chocolate chips to cinnamon and walnuts. Finally, it’s called “bread,” so really, you can eat it for breakfast. The other reason it’s called bread is because it’s baked in a loaf tin, making it easy to cut slices. The only difference between this and banana cake is that the cake is in a round cake tin and is slightly fancier. But by all means, you can still eat it for breakfast 🙂

Flavorful and Well-balanced

Our banana cake recipe is probably not revolutionary. However, we’ve added some small twists that we think make it a delicious and unique cake. The cake itself is beautifully fluffy, with flecks of banana throughout it that are characteristic of banana bread. It has a delicious banana flavor, but not enough to overpower the other additions. The brown sugar adds a caramel flavor, but we don’t add so much that the cake becomes dense. Walnuts are added for crunch and nuttiness, and a dash of cardamom gives a light floral note to the cake. Finally, the chocolate ganache is just the right level of richness to round out the rest of the flavors. Yum!

Simple but Impressive!

As I mentioned already, one of the best parts about banana bread is that it’s often made with leftover overripe fruit that would otherwise be wasted. But genuinely, you might end up buying extra bananas to make this cake – that’s how good it is. It’s super simple to make but so tasty and a hit with the whole family. You can make it on a Sunday as a little treat for the week ahead, or make it for a special occasion! You can customize the decoration however you like, so whether you want to double the recipe and make it two layers or four layers, or just add some more festive decorations on top, it’s sure to impress for any occasion. And if you know anyone who loves banana bread, make this for them – we promise it’ll go down well.

Ingredients for Banana Cake

For this cake, you’ll need wet ingredients: bananas, vegetable oil, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Here, you can make substitutions for the oil (use any other type, although some, like olive oil, may change the taste), sugar (you could use coconut sugar, for example), and milk (any plant-based milk will work). Then, you’ll need dry ingredients: all-purpose or plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, salt, and walnuts. You can add other types of flour if you like (whole wheat, rye, spelt) but use mostly all-purpose, otherwise the cake may become too dense. Instead of cardamom, you could add cinnamon or cloves. Finally, use any other nut instead of walnuts – almonds or hazelnuts would be delicious! For the ganache, you’ll need dark chocolate, which can be replaced with milk chocolate if you want it to be sweeter, and heavy cream.

Instructions

For the cake, start by mashing your bananas. Then, add the rest of the wet ingredients and whisk together. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the walnuts) and add to the wet, folding or whisking until you have a batter with no dry spots of flour. Add the walnuts to the batter and pour into a lined baking tin. Bake for 25-40 minutes – this is a wide range because it can really vary depending on your oven – until a cake tester or knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let this cool and make your ganache. Heat up the heavy cream until steaming, then add the chopped-up chocolate or chocolate chips. Wait for about 5 minutes, then stir until they melt and you have a shiny mixture. Let this cool until it reaches a thick but spreadable texture. Once the cake is cooled and the ganache is ready, it’s time to decorate, slice, and enjoy!