EGGLESS, WHOLE-WHEAT BANANA BREAD WITH WALNUT STREUSEL

24.06.2020:  I have had requests for eggless cake recipes that have always been met with a response stating that I do not bake eggless ones. Since I don’t bake cakes that often, I have always been under the impression that for a cake to taste its best, it needs to be baked with eggs and maida (all-purpose flour). My last attempt to bake an eggless, whole-wheat flour banana upside down brownie (which also happened to be my first attempt) was a disappointing one. I have mentioned it in my post on Banana Fritters.

Ready to go into the oven.

I have had my eye on Kamna’s (Kreative Kitchen) recipe for Eggless Banana Bread for some time now and the streusel made it all the more tempting. I finally decided to bake it. Mamma has always asked me to have a positive frame of mind while cooking but I cannot help being a jittery cook when I’m trying something for the first time. Though I kept wheat flour out, I kept telling Skip that I should probably just switch to maida (AP flour) as atta (wheat flour) would result in a dense cake and all that lovely streusel would be wasted on a tasteless cake. Skip kept chanting ‘Wheat cake, Wheat cake’ and even as I fretted about, constantly looking through the oven door wondering how the cake would turn out, the ever-optimistic Skip said anything with that much mashed banana and walnuts couldn’t taste bad.

The entire kitchen smelled heavenly and as I got the wonderfully browned and streusled cake out of the oven, Skip grinned at me and said “You should listen to me more often”.

Can you describe a cake as gorgeous? Time to throw those preconceived notions out. The cake is moist, soft, spongy and not the least bit dense. In fact, the wheat-flour gives the cake a wonderful nutty taste. Making the streusel is optional but I would most definitely recommend you make it. The crunchy, walnut topping goes well with the spongy, banana flavoured cake. The next day, we added a scoop of ice-cream on the cake and drizzled some caramel sauce and enjoyed our Banana-walnut cake sundae.  If you like cakes with toppings, you may also check out this cake with coconut topping. We also have the recipe for a banana walnut cake with eggs which is equally divine in taste. 

Skip has asked me to use jaggery the next time I bake this cake so I can title my post as a healthy cake. If any of you try it with jaggery, please let us know how it tastes.

EGGLESS BANANA CAKE WITH WALNUT STREUSEL

Ingredients:

For the Streusel (Optional)

Flour – 3 tbsp

Brown sugar – ¼ cup

Cinnamon – ¼ tsp

Unsalted cold butter – 2 tbsp

Chopped walnuts – ¼ cup

Oats – 2 tbsp (optional)

For the cake

Mashed banana – 300 gms (Roughly 9 small sized bananas)

Whole wheat-flour (Atta)- 180 gms

Oil- 125 ml

Brown sugar – ½ cup

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Cinnamon powder – ¼ tsp

Baking powder – 1.5 tsp

Baking soda – 0.5 tsp

Pinch of salt

Method:

1.  For the streusel: Add all ingredients into a bowl and rub the butter in until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set it aside in the fridge.
2.  For the cake: Mash the bananas well.
3.  To the mashed bananas, add oil, sugar and vanilla extract and mix the ingredients well.
4.  Sieve the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix it until well combined.
5.  Pour the batter into a greased tin (8-9 inch tin). Sprinkle the streusel on the batter. 
6.  Bake at 180C for about 45 mins.
7.  Done. 

Recipe Notes:

·  I used all-purpose flour for the streusel, but wheat-flour can be used as well.

·    I didn’t have brown sugar at home, so I have substituted it with white granulated sugar. You may also use jaggery.

·       You may add nuts/choco chips into the batter as well.