There are hundreds of fantastic food blogs out there that I love and admire, but every now and again I come across a gem of a blog that I really resonate with. For me, Connie’s blog Whisks and Whimsy is one such gem. It is crisp, clean and elegant and as she is more of a baker than I am, I find myself getting inspiration to bake a little something more regularly after reading her posts.
A few weeks back Connie sent me an email saying she was coming to Sydney. After commenting on a few of each others posts in the past, this was the first inbox email exchange between us. I was delighted to hear from her, put together a list of great food to try in Sydney, and instantly suggest we catch up. We had a wonderful time chatting over lunch and I am happy to say we now have plans to keep in touch.
This weekend I had wanted to try Connie’s amazing looking Mini Lemon Olive Oil Cakes, but I didn’t have time to buy a mini bundt pan (and they are so cute in mini bundt shapes you couldn’t possibly make them without the pan), so I decided instead I would take inspiration from her Banana Bread post and pull out my old fail safe banana and walnut bread recipe which I hadn’t made in forever.
I love this banana bread recipe for many reasons: it results in an extremely flavourful and moist cake (lets face it, banana bread is really just cake isn’t it?); instead of walnuts you can add chocolate chips, berries, nutella or dried lavender; and as long as you have a couple of overripe bananas on hand, everything else is usually stocked in the cupboard.
BANANA AND WALNUT BREAD
Melted butter, to grease the tin
2 cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup skim milk
2 eggs
50g butter, melted, cooled
2 overripe medium bananas, mashed
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and then grease a loaf pan with melted butter lining the bottom with non-stick baking paper.
Sift the flours, baking powder and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, milk, eggs, melted butter, banana and walnuts and stir until all combined.
Pour into the prepared tin, ensuring the top is smooth and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove tin from oven and set aside in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool then cut into slices to serve.
NB: To make other great versions replace the walnuts with one of the following: 1 cup berries, 1/2 cup choc chips, 1/2 cup nutella or 1/4 cup dried lavender.
Thanks so much for the mention, Amanda! I absolutely loved meeting you.
This banana bread looks delicious and as always, your food styling and photos are beautiful. I am always inspired by your posts!
Thanks Connie! Chat soon 🙂
I'm not a very skilled baker at all but I like everything with walnuts and bananas in it (especially when someone else cooks it for me:)) Your photos are so beautiful – I love how you played with the depth of field.
Thanks Anda! I never used to bake much, but am finding that a little bit of baking every now and again keeps improving my skills – savory is definitely more me. Thanks for your kind words about the photos also!
Your pictures are gorgeous! What a beautiful bread! I love banana bread… adding walnut isn't an option for me since my hub is allergic.. but I think I'd love it!
Thanks Sook. It is a very tasty recipe. You could always replace the walnuts with berries, chocolate chips or nutella to make it more husband friendly! By the way… great blog you have there. 🙂
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I love this banana bread and make it most weekends for school lunches. I’ve discovered that 3 tbsp of baking powder is way too much, so make it with 3 tsp and that seems just right!
Hi Karen, thanks so much for the comment!! Sounds like I’ve made a mistake with the recipe. Thanks for letting me know! I’ll amend the recipe.