Banana Bread or Banana Loaf is a favorite coffee/breakfast cake of many - popular because of simplicity in preparation and great flavour. Sometimes I buy few extra bananas just so that I can have leftover overripe bananas that can be used for my favorite banana-based desserts.
Sometime back I made a low fat banana bread based on a recipe I found on joyofbaking.com. However I added my own twists to the original recipe as I find it difficult to follow a recipe exactly. This happens either because I usually do not have all the ingredients in the recipe or because I have more than one recipe I like so that I take parts I like from different recipes to come up with my own combination.
This time I decided to take the humble Low Fat Banana Loaf up a notch by crowning it with sweet crumbly topping made from butter, flour, chopped nuts and brown sugar. This crumbly mixture is also known as Streusel and is used for topping cakes and muffins. It adds a nice sweet crunch to soft texture of cakes - I have always believed that adding crunch to sweets makes it more interesting.
Banana Loaf with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
2 big very ripe bananas / 1 cup banana puree
1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (120 ml) low fat yoghurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips - optional
1/2 cup chopped roasted walnuts - optional
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (I used mixed spice instead. You could even use nutmeg)
Ingredients for Streusel
2 tbsp cold butter (can be used straight from fridge)
1/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar (I substituted this with a mix of white caster sugar and dark brown sugar)
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
Making Streusel
Cut the cold butter into smaller chunks and add the flour and sugar. Rub the flour and sugar into butter using your finger-tips. Then add chopped nuts and again rub the mixture until you get crumbs. Refrigerate the streusel until is ready to use.
Preparation
- If you are going to add walnuts to banana bread, it is a good idea to roast them first. For this, place the walnuts on baking tray and place it in oven for 8-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 C. Once you get the roasted aroma, take out from oven and chop the walnuts into small pieces. Keep aside until ready to use.
- Take a loaf tin and grease it with butter. Then line it with baking parchment. This is not required if you are using a silicone loaf tin. I found that the loaves baked in silicone loaf tin have a tendency to expand more in the middle so that you a bulgy loaf, so I stick to traditional loaf tins now.
- Cut the banana into chunks and place them in a wide shallow bowl. Mash them with the back of fork until you get a lump-free puree.
- Measure the plain flour and whole wheat flour and mix them well. Then add the mixed spice (or cinnamon/nutmeg) and baking powder and mix well. Sift this mixture using a sieve.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C.
To make the cake
- Take the oil in a deep bowl. Add brown sugar and stir well. Add vanilla extract lightly beaten eggs to this mixture and again mix well to get a homogeneous mixture.
- Add the yoghurt to mashed bananas. Stir well. Then add the baking soda. Add the banana mix to the oil-egg-sugar mix and blend it together with a spatula/spoon.
- Add the dry mixture of flours to the liquid mixture and blend it well using spatula.
- At this stage you can add the chocolate chips/walnuts to the cake mixture.
- Pour the cake mixture into the lined loaf tin.
- Sprinkle the Streusel evenly over the cake mixture.
- Bake the loaf in oven preheated to 180 C for 45-50 minutes.
- Take it out from the oven and allow to cool before taking the loaf out of the tin.
Sometime back I made a low fat banana bread based on a recipe I found on joyofbaking.com. However I added my own twists to the original recipe as I find it difficult to follow a recipe exactly. This happens either because I usually do not have all the ingredients in the recipe or because I have more than one recipe I like so that I take parts I like from different recipes to come up with my own combination.
This time I decided to take the humble Low Fat Banana Loaf up a notch by crowning it with sweet crumbly topping made from butter, flour, chopped nuts and brown sugar. This crumbly mixture is also known as Streusel and is used for topping cakes and muffins. It adds a nice sweet crunch to soft texture of cakes - I have always believed that adding crunch to sweets makes it more interesting.
Banana Loaf with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
2 big very ripe bananas / 1 cup banana puree
1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (120 ml) low fat yoghurt
2 eggs
1/2 cup chocolate chips - optional
1/2 cup chopped roasted walnuts - optional
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (I used mixed spice instead. You could even use nutmeg)
Ingredients for Streusel
2 tbsp cold butter (can be used straight from fridge)
1/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar (I substituted this with a mix of white caster sugar and dark brown sugar)
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
Making Streusel
Cut the cold butter into smaller chunks and add the flour and sugar. Rub the flour and sugar into butter using your finger-tips. Then add chopped nuts and again rub the mixture until you get crumbs. Refrigerate the streusel until is ready to use.
Preparation
- If you are going to add walnuts to banana bread, it is a good idea to roast them first. For this, place the walnuts on baking tray and place it in oven for 8-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 C. Once you get the roasted aroma, take out from oven and chop the walnuts into small pieces. Keep aside until ready to use.
- Take a loaf tin and grease it with butter. Then line it with baking parchment. This is not required if you are using a silicone loaf tin. I found that the loaves baked in silicone loaf tin have a tendency to expand more in the middle so that you a bulgy loaf, so I stick to traditional loaf tins now.
- Cut the banana into chunks and place them in a wide shallow bowl. Mash them with the back of fork until you get a lump-free puree.
- Measure the plain flour and whole wheat flour and mix them well. Then add the mixed spice (or cinnamon/nutmeg) and baking powder and mix well. Sift this mixture using a sieve.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C.
To make the cake
- Take the oil in a deep bowl. Add brown sugar and stir well. Add vanilla extract lightly beaten eggs to this mixture and again mix well to get a homogeneous mixture.
- Add the yoghurt to mashed bananas. Stir well. Then add the baking soda. Add the banana mix to the oil-egg-sugar mix and blend it together with a spatula/spoon.
- Add the dry mixture of flours to the liquid mixture and blend it well using spatula.
- At this stage you can add the chocolate chips/walnuts to the cake mixture.
- Pour the cake mixture into the lined loaf tin.
- Sprinkle the Streusel evenly over the cake mixture.
- Bake the loaf in oven preheated to 180 C for 45-50 minutes.
- Take it out from the oven and allow to cool before taking the loaf out of the tin.
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