Banana-Walnut Fluffy Yellow Cake

More than 80% of the people love bananas, and I guess 90% would go nuts over the deadly combination of Bananas and Walnuts, whether it's in a muffin, a pancake, sweet bread or cakes! I strongly believe that some pairs are made in heaven, and these two entirely fit the bill!:) Plus, they both have nutritious value, fiber and flavor; the crunchy nuts with their oil content nicely balance the sweet and mushy texture of the bananas, resulting into a perfect marriage of foods! Ok, enough of love and heavenly pairs, let's get back to food! Unlike traditional white cakes, a yellow cake contains just the egg yolks, while the former contains whole eggs; a lot of people like the way the yellow cake rises and is fluffy to the touch, but the inherent "egginess" might be a no-no for a few of us! This is especially true while using ready-made yellow-cake mixes, so I've included a recipe for making your own cake-mix at home! The Banana-Walnut combination also helps balance out the egginess in yellow cake, and works well to create a delicate and spongy dessert cake.

I've used Betty Crocker's yellow-cake mix before, and it was actually pretty good! But this time, just to control the egginess, I tried Shuna Lydon's recipe for homemade yellow cake. The key in making your own though is to separate egg yolks from egg-whites so that not a speck of white goes into the batter (try using an egg-cracker). Shuna has really explained it well on her post. As for the cake, you can use Pecans or other nuts with Bananas, but experience tells me that Walnuts taste the best!

Ingredients

Homemade Yellow-Cake Mix
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter - softened
1 cup sugar

Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor. Add the sugar, baking powder and salt. Process until blended. Cut the butter into large chunks and add to the flour mixture. Pulse and process until the butter is completely incorporated. You can even combine butter in the flour mixture with your hands till it forms grain-like crumbly mixture. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. This can be stored for about one month.

Banana-Walnut Cake
2 cups yellow-cake mix (specified above)
2-3 large eggs (egg yolks only)(use less if you don't like it too eggy)
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 banana - mashed (leave a few round slices for garnish)
1/2 cup walnuts - chopped

Method
Making a good yellow-cake uses a Dry-Wet-Dry-Wet method. You DO NOT dump all ingredients in together!

Take half of the yellow-cake mix, then half of the milk and the vanilla. Mix well to incorporate everything. Add the egg yolks, beating well after each addition.

Add the remaining flour mixture, then the rest of the milk, and mix thoroughly until smooth. You can even use a food-processor for this. Keep scraping the sides as you blend or beat the mixture. This is one cake recipe in which the more you beat, the fluffier it gets and more it rises!

Next add the mashed banana and the chopped walnuts, folding in just to mix it well.

Grease a cake-baking pan, or use muffin molds for individual cakes. I used a 12-muffin pan. Fill them only 2/3rd full as this needs more room to rise. Even if you use a cake pan, do not fill more than half of it.

Preheat oven at 375 degrees and bake for 20 to 25 minutes (muffin size) until cake springs back when lightly touched near center, and the sides pull away from the pan. If you are using a cake pan, it may take a little longer, but keep checking if its done after 20 mins.

Allow the cakes to cool a little on the wire rack. I pinched in a slice of banana on each cupcake and drizzled just a teeny little bit of chocolate syrup on the top for added glamour, as I send them to Zorra who's celebrating International Women's Day with Yellow Foods!

The texture of these cakes is just amazing, and they turned out much better than I had expected! The individual cakes also work great while entertaining, especially topped with some vanilla ice cream!:)