Banana Bread with Demerara Sugar and Walnuts

March 17, 2024

The recipe below comes from Cherie Denham’s book “The Irish Bakery” and it’s an absolute triumph.

Ingredients:

  • 4 ripe bananas, peeled
  • 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • 120 ml of sunflower oil
  • 30 g of butter softened
  • 85 g of caster sugar
  • 55 g of light  brown sugar (you can use Demerara)
  • 2 eggs
  • 110 g of plain flour, sifted
  • 55 g of wholemeal or spelt flour, sifted
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder
  • 85 g of roughly chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
  • some butter for the tin
  • 3-4 tablespoons of Demerara sugar to coat the baking tin

Preheat the oven to 160 C fan .

Prepare a bread loaf tin.

Smear the tin from the inside with softened butter.

Cut a piece of baking parchment and line with it the baking tin, pressing it well into all the corners. (The most important is to line the bottom and the two wider sides of the tin). Use more softened butter to brush all the insides of the prepared tin and cover all over with the Demerara sugar.

In a standing mixer whisk the eggs with both sugars until they turn pale and treble in volume.

In a blender turn into a smooth paste the bananas, sunflower oil, vanilla extract and the butter.

Pour the banana mixture into the eggs and carry on mixing on a low speed.

Now gradually add the flours, a pinch of salt, soda and baking powder, mixing all the while.

Stir in the walnuts and pour the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60-80 minutes (depending on your tin, check by inserting a small sharp knife in the middle, which should come out clean).

If the top of the bread browns too quickly cover it loosely with a sheet of an aluminium oil.

Leave the banana bread in the tin for 20 minutes before taking it out and placing on a wire rack.

Wait until it has cooled down a little before enjoying it still slightly warm with some melting butter on top.