Sunday in a nutshell

Hello readers!

Happy Sunday to you; I hope you had a nice Saturday :) The weather has been quite ok so far. Next week, the temperature will go up again in Holland. Up to 17-18 degrees Celsius they say! Feels a bit like spring in the middle of autumn.

Speaking of seasons: seasonal products are the best! There's pumpkin, pear, green beans, endive (Penny, the guinea, is very happy :)).. But also: nuts.

Nomnomnom!

My mom came home with a bunch of fresh walnuts last week. Walnuts are lovely; though it takes some strength before you can eat them ;) I visited a nice cooking store in The Hague and found a recipe for cake. This weekend's bake is based on a recipe by this store and contains a lot of nuts and banana.

Walnut-Banana cake, freshly made!

Looks good, doesn't it? It tastes very good with some Earl Grey tea :) The best thing about this cake is that it works on your five senses. You can actually see, smell, taste, feel and hear (when you take a bite) the nuts and bananas. It's so amazing, I just have to share this with you.

This is my version for a (big!) Walnut-Banana cake, based on this recipe:

125 gr. softened butter
150 gr. brown sugar
20 gr. vanilla sugar
2 large of 3 small eggs
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3-4 very ripe bananas
100 gr. walnuts
20 gr. almonds
250 gr. self-rising flour (recipe on bottom of this post!)

long cake tin
handmixer
cake rack

Start by pre-heating the oven to 180 degrees (celsius) fan. Butter the cake tin and place a sheet of baking parchment in the tin.

I love the smell of chopped walnuts and almonds.. Even more when they're roasted!

Mash the bananas and chop up the walnuts and almonds. Leave them a bit chunky, it's nice to have a crunch when you take a bite!

Cream the butter, brown and vanilla sugar. This takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the almond extract and the eggs, one by one, and mix well. Add the mashed bananas and chopped nuts and self-rising flour and mix well.

Mix, mix, mix :)

Pour the cake mixture in the cake tin and leave it in the oven for approx. an hour. The cake is ready when it's golden brown and a bamboo skewer comes out clean. Leave it to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes, then place it on the cake rack to cool completely.

And there you go! The cake tastes best when it's served luke warm. Whipped cream is a nice extra when serving :)

Lovely filled cake.. Can you see the chunks of nuts?

Few tips from Rebecca:
- Unless you're terribly afraid of getting salmonella, I can really recommend to always try the batter. It's the best way to taste if the flavour is strong enough.
- This recipe is great to bake if you want to get rid of left-over bananas in your fridge. Old or brown bananas are perfect for baking or mashing!
- If you don't have some ready-to-use self-rising flour, it's very easy to create this yourself! Take 250 gr. all-purpose flour, add 2,5 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix and voila! :)

It's almost Halloween, people! How are you going to celebrate it? Stay tuned, a special Halloween post is coming up next week :) until then, enjoy your weekend and see you soon! <3

I couldn't agree more :D

Love, Rebecca