Banana Bread- my first baking adventure

My first baking adventure, so to speak has to be this. I have never tried baking other than with Betty Crocker mix, i have never found the need to bake from scratch when BC has such an easy n' good cake mix made available. Well, all that changed when Ruby my friend baked some Banana Bread n' got it to office. I just loved how simple n' undemanding the bread/cake felt. What she gave us was more like a cake than a bread.

But i was inspired n' i just had to give it a try. The recipe i'm using is by a Pakistani cooking expert- Shireen Anwar. It is so simple, i baked it twice already. Mine came out exactly like a bread. Gave it to friends from office n' they said they liked it. We had it with some hot coffee in the morning n' it tasted even better...as usual i made this before heading off to work with little time to spare for a creative photograph. Pardon, the crinkly look on the side, it is coz of the baking paper i had used to line the baking pan which on my second try i realised was not even necessary. :(

Ingredients:

1. Banana: 3nos (medium)(mash it into a thick paste)- use the extra ripe ones if possible
2. Flour: 2 cups
3. Baking Soda: 1/4 tsp (i didn't have any with me, so i didn't use this)
4. Baking Powder: 1tbsp (since i didn't add baking soda i used 1 1/4 tbsp of baking powder)
5. Vanilla Essence: 1tsp
6. Oil: 1/2 cup (i used sunflower oil)
7. Caster Sugar: 3/4cup (i used brown sugar instead n' hence took 1cup)
8. Eggs: 2nos
9. Walnuts: 1 cup (broken/crushed)
10 Yogurt: 1/2 cup
11.Butter: 1tsp (mainly to grease the pan, add the extra bit into the mix)

Method:

Step 1: Grease a baking pan with butter and keep it aside. Pre heat the oven on 180°C.

Step 2: Mix all the ingredients other than flour, baking powder and walnuts. Beat everything together at a low speed. Don't over beat just enough to mix well.

Step 3: Add the flour n' baking powder in portions into the above mixing it at the same time to avoid any lumps to form.

Step 4: Add the walnuts and mix well.

Cooking time should be 45-50mins depending up on your oven. If required, check only after 35minutes to see if it's already done. Since i used brown sugar it wasn't very sweet and i liked it that way. So if you prefer your cakes sweet, use caster sugar itself.

All thanks to An Open Book (who let me know about this event) i'm gonna send in my first entry for an event. The event is Bake Off and it's hosted by Champa from Stories from an Indian Kitchen. Don't know if my entry will qualify, but no harm in trying i guess. :)