Banana cake with nut streusel

There was no big planning behind this recipe, it was a spur of the moment thing: I had very, very ripe bananas at home and had to do something with them. When you grow up in Brazil you learn that you wait for a banana to be over ripe before you eat it. In Germany however people think that because the banana starts to form those little black spots it is no longer good to eat. So I have a lot of bananas laying around because my German husband won’t eat bananas with the little black spot. I don’t get it, but what are you going to do?

I looked through my recipe books and found an interesting recipe to use them up. It is adapted from Lecker Magazine. Super easy, delicious and moist.

Banana cake with nut streusel (serves 12 slices)

For the streusel:

85g butter, melted

100g nuts, chopped

125g flour

60g brown sugar

1 tsp cinammon

Pinch of salt

For the cake:

125g butter

100g brown sugar

1tsp cinnamon

zest of a lemon

a pinch of salt

vanilla pod or a tbsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp flour + 100g flour

3 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

100g nuts, chopped

75g natural yogurt

1 tbsp baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix all the dry ingredients for the streusel with an electric mixer on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and slowly add the melted butter until crumbly.

2. Butter a rectangular pan 30×20 cm or line it with greaseproof paper. Cream the butter, sugar, cinnamon, zest, salt and vanilla until it looks pale. Add the eggs one by one and after each egg add a tbsp of flour.

3. Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the creamed mix with the yogurt. Mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

4. Pour the cake mix into the prepared pan and sprinkle the streusel on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes. This cake is very moist because of the banana, so don’t fret if you stick a fork in it and it comes out a little wet.

I took this cake to a friend’s barbecue and everyone loved it. The cake is also delicious when still warm, topped with vanilla ice cream. Have you got over-ripe bananas at home? Join the club and get baking!