Swiss Banana cake

Back in 2003 when I was an exchange student in Switzerland, I lived in a small charming town, 30 minutes away from Zurich, called Wolfhausen. Wolfhausen is a beautiful place, surrounded by green hills, where modern life meets old traditions of Alpes, where two to three story houses prevail, where local people know and greet each other. I was a very lucky student. My new Swiss family greeted me with open arms and taught me German with patience and dedication. It was not the German language I had been learning at home; it was Swiss German!!! So, I thought when greeting a local villager, I should say "Hoi Zamme". Later, in a couple of months, after practicing my Swiss German knowledge with locals every day, I discovered that this phrase was only used when meeting a group of people:-) What a surprise!

Switzerland is an amazing country when it comes to variety of delicious food. Going back to its history, the country was formed by four distinct groups which later contributed to four languages spoken in Switzerland: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Thinking of that, can you imagine how diverse Swiss cuisine is?! During my stay, I enjoyed not only well - known traditional Swiss dishes such as Fondue, Raclette and Rosti but great Italian, French and German cuisines as well.

Knowing my passion for cooking, my host mother Monika presented me a baking book which I often use today. The book has great cakes and quick bread recipes. To my pleasure, widely used ingredients in Swiss goodies are butter and nuts:-) As I say there is never too much butter, the same rule applies to nuts:-) Banana cake recipe is simple to make and is utterly tasty! I translated the original recipe from Betty Bossis' book. However, I substituted some ingredients. So, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

3.5 oz of butter (unsalted and room temperature)
5 oz of sugar ( I used brown sugar)
1/4 t of salt
2 eggs
Zest of one lemon
3.5 oz of raisins
1 T of Rum
14 oz of peeled and mashed bananas
1 t of lemon juice
5 oz of minced walnuts
1 1/2 t of baking powder
10 oz of flour (I used whole wheat)
4 T of milk
1 t of vanilla extract (if you'd like)

Instructions

1. Preheat an oven to 300 degrees F and coat muffin pans with oil.

2. In a bowl, whisk well butter with sugar and salt.

3. Add eggs and continue whisking until the mixture becomes light and pale.

4. Mix in raisins and lemon zest. Add lemon juice and mashed bananas.

5. Fold in walnuts, flour and baking powder. Finally pour milk and mix until smooth.

6. Scoop the mixture into muffin pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

* Did you know that if you mix baking powder with lemon juice, you eliminate baking powder taste in the finished product?!

* Did you know if you pour some lemon juice on peeled bananas or other cut fruits, you can protect them from browning?!

* Did you know that in order to enhance sweetness in baking products, you can simply add a little bit of salt?!

I hope you will like the recipe:-)

Bon Appetit!