You surely must have read my post on the Ganpati Celebrations at home. So yeah, we had lots of guests / friends home during the 2 days, which left me with loads of sweets & fruits.
What really happens when 2 sweet tooths like us are left with loads of sweets at home? Well they eat them for the first 2 days & then start feel guilty coz the morning walks have been suspended on account of heavy rains but it always feels good when you have things that you love the most & have been avoiding for the last 2-3 months.
So yeah, we kinda let ourselves lose for the first 2 days & enjoyed everything from Motichoor Ladoos to Mava Modaks to Pedas & some dry fruit loaded sweets to Kaju Katlis.
There were also a variety of fruits that were offered as Prasad, among which the most common / prominent ones are bananas.
Now since I fast for the entire period of 10 days or 11 depends on the Visarjan schedule. I enjoy the fruits as part of my fasts. But you simply cannot expect me to relish bananas every single day, especially when the number of bananas at home are as high as 2 dozens, out of which a dozen are just about to turn over ripe which no one will touch.
I had to salvage it quickly as I don’t like throwing or wasting a single thing at home, especially food stuff. Also, I wasn’t going to let the prasad that people brought home with so much love go waste, so planned to whip up a cake with a lovely recipe from Veg Recipes of India Blog, (recipe link - http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/eggless-banana-cake-recipe/). I have made this cake umpteen number of times for family & friends & have earned some lovely compliments, all of which belong to the author.
Since I had loads of bananas, I had to double the recipe. Not at all complaining as I will be distributing the same to friends who will also be receiving Lord Ganesha’s blessings in the form of this yummy sweet treat.
PS - Narayan was just in time home to pose for my pic & happily pop the cake piece in his mouth!
Recipe Courtesy – Eggless Banana Cake from Veg Recipes of India Blog, Author Dassana Amit
Recipe for Eggless Banana Walnut Cake
Makes approx. 1.5 kg cake
Ingredients
- 10 ripe bananas
- 3 cups Flour (I have used 50% APF & 50% Whole wheat flour)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- A pinch of salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 2 tsps vanilla extract or essence
- ½ cup of Walnuts roughly chopped
- ¼ cup of Milk (optional & to be used only if required)
Method –
- Preheat the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Peel & chop bananas & then mash it nicely with a fork.
- Add sugar, oil & vanilla essence to the mashed bananas & mix it well so that sugar dissolves.
- Sieve the flour along with baking powder & baking soda.
- Now add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients & fold the mixture well. Do not whisk it.
- Add chopped walnuts & mix it once before placing it in the oven in a greased tin.
- PS - If you find your mixture to be too thick, you can incorporate the milk before adding the batter to the greased tin. I had to use the same for this recipe as I was baking a big quantity.
- Bake the cake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes on middle rack.
- Demould the cake once it has cooled down completely & slice it. Stays good in room temperature for couple of days & then can be kept in the refrigerator for another 2-3 days.
Notes –
- You can make the entire recipe with using either APF or whole wheat aata / flour. I have tried both & they have turned out good.
- I have used sunflower oil. Have made this recipe using olive oil as well. Ensure you use an oil that has no flavor.
- If you feel the cake mixture is too tight / dense or it is difficult to deal with while folding, you may add few tblsps of milk in it. While adding milk, please use a spoon & add one at a time to avoid a runny dough.
- Banana & walnuts are a perfect combination. I have earlier made the recipe using almonds which are absolutely delicious too. You can add some choco chips too if making for kids.
- Best way to check whether the cake is done is to insert a tooth pick in the centre & if it comes out clean, your cake is well cooked.
- Ideal to bake cakes in the middle rack so that the top doesn’t brown too much.
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Vidya Narayan