Black Walnut Banana Cake

When you’re a walnut company, everyone wants your recipes for various walnut cakes, because they know they will be delicious. Well folks, we definitely do not have a shortage of cake recipes: sheet cake, red velvet, fancy black walnut and SO many more. However, one of our favorites is the Black Walnut Banana Cake. We may be biased, but we think it’s one of the best recipes you’ll find anywhere for Banana Cake.

What makes this cake the BEST banana cake? Cake science is complicated, but we’re pretty sure the reason this recipe is so exceptional is that we’ve found the perfect ratio of Black Walnut to banana. The nutty crunch of our big, bold Black Walnut pieces, contrasted against the moist and aromatic banana batter, make this cake a must-have with coffee and conversation.

Another thing that’s great about this cake is that, unlike a lot of other sweets, it’s packed with protein, Vitamin A, and fiber—and that’s just from the Black Walnuts! When you count the potassium from the bananas, it almost doesn’t feel like dessert anymore. Oh but, we promise, it definitely tastes like dessert!

You can make it a couple of different ways. 1) As a snack cake, served warm with a generous sprinkle of Powdered Sugar or Whipped Cream. Or 2) As a layer cake (see frosting recipe below) Either way, we’re sure you’re going to enjoy it!

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups flour
½ teaspoon any baking powder
¾ teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup Black Walnut large pieces plus some for garnish

Wet Ingredients:

1½ cup mashed ripe bananas (3-5 plus some slices for finished cake)
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup buttermilk (yogurt or sour cream will work!)

Butter Mixture:

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter, softened
2 eggs

Frosting:

½ cup butter, softened
4 cups Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2-4 Tablespoons Cream

Shop Black Walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the dry ingredients:

Whisk together and reserve.

For the Black Walnuts:

Toss with 2 Tablespoons of the DRY Ingredients and reserve.

For the wet ingredients:

Stir together and reserve.

For the butter mixture:

Cream until light and fluffy, adding eggs in one at a time, and reserve.

For the cake:

Add the DRY Ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the WET Ingredients, in three rounds ending with the Dry Ingredients. Toss in the Black Walnuts with the last addition of DRY Ingredients before the batter is completely incorporated. Try not to over mix the batter, less is more here. The batter will be very thick.

Divide batter equally between two buttered cake pans and gently smooth it into even layers in the pans.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, checking the cakes at 20 minutes to see if they need turning. Cake is done when it has shrunk from the sides of the pan and the center springs back from a gentle touch.

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to finish cooling.

For the frosting:

Beat together, adding the cream last to adjust the texture.

When the cake layers are THROUGHLY COOL, frost the bottom layer of the cake with ½ the Frosting. Top with slices of 2 ripe Bananas. Add the second layer and frost the top of the cake with the remaining ½ of the frosting. Garnish with additional Black Walnuts and banana slices.

Enjoy!

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