Recipe: Banana walnut bread with fresh lemon curd (Curtis Stone)

I am not sure why Curtis Stone called this a banana bread because it tastes more like a cake (to me), but what I DO know is that this is one delicious bake. It is moist with a beautiful crust, with copious amounts of walnuts. My family was certainly impressed. 

Banana walnut bread

The "Mummy and Baby D" team baked this while Baby C was in school. A pretty straightforward bake, Baby D helped with all the simple tasks such as sifting the flour, mashing the bananas, folding the batter and finally pouring it into the loaf tin. Amazing little boy! The only thing I changed is reducing the sugar and serving it with some fresh lemon curd.

You know they say kids don't lie. My daughter came home from school, had a slice of cake, still warm from the oven and said,"Mummy Baby Sumo, put this in your blog. I love you, your cake is so nice." Those were her exact words (it's funny right, my daughter calling me Baby Sumo), and it put a really huge smile on my face! This is certainly what all mummies who cook/bake want to hear from their children ;) Definitely gives me the incentive to continue cooking/baking more delicious food for my family.

Mummy and Baby D bake team :)

Even after reducing the sugar, I found the cake was on the sweet side for me since it was etched in my brain that this was a "bread", but everyone else didn't seem to mind (cakes are meant to be sweet, I guess). That's why I liked the pairing with fresh lemon curd - the tanginess of the curd cut down some of the sweetness of the cake. The texture of this bake is like a cake - very lovely. This is quite a big loaf, you will get at least 15 slices out of it - and we almost finished the whole cake, leaving just a couple for the following morning for breakfast. It remained moist the following day, and just as good as it was warm.

Am glad that I tried this recipe from Curtis Stone, it is definitely a keeper ;) Now I can see why this is one of the most popular recipes amongst our blogger friends in this bloghop.

Served with fresh lemon curd - a touch of sunshine on a rainy day

Banana walnut bread
Recipe adapted from Curtis Stone
Preparation time: 20-30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 - 1 1/4 hours
Serves 8

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable/corn oil
3 large very ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups), mashed
2 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups walnuts, roughly chopped

To serve
1/2 quantity fresh lemon curd (recipe by Baby Sumo)


1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Butter 1 (9- by 5- by 3-inch) loaf pan, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.

3. Beat the eggs and sugar using an electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beater is lifted, about 5-6 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add oil in a slow stream, mixing, then mix in bananas, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in flour mixture and walnuts gently but thoroughly.

4. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (mine took 1 hour)

5. Cool loaf in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Turn loaf right side up and cool completely. Slice and serve with some fresh lemon curd or butter.

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I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Curtis Stone" bloghop which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Grace of Life Can Be Simple. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Curtis Stone websites or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of July 2013.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in July 2013 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Grace of Life Can Be Simple and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

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