Jayke Mangion, founder and owner of Brickwood Cafes shares his delectably golden recipe for Walnut & Banana Bread with Espresso Butter
“This one’s been on the Brickwood menu since day one and it’s not coming off any time soon. Inspired by the classic Aussie banana bread that Jayke grew up eating, it’s grilled until golden, then topped with whipped espresso butter that melts into every bite.
Brickwood was one of the first cafés in London to serve banana bread this way, much to the initial bemusement of its customers. But it didn’t take long for them to warm to this rich and oh so comforting treat. It’s the kind of thing you order once – and then every single time after that.”
PREP: 15 mins
COOK: 55-65 mins
YIELDS: 1 loaf walnut and banana bread (about 6-7 really thick slices), 5 servings espresso butter
Ingredients
For the espresso butter:
• 500g premium butter
• 5 double shots quality espresso
For the walnut & banana bread:
• 250g plain flour
• 150g brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 75g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 100g sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g chopped walnuts (plus extra for topping)
Method
For the espresso butter
- Blend the butter and espresso until whipped to a shiny consistency and light brown in colour.
For the walnut and banana bread
- Grease a 454g loaf tin, or line with baking paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently until just combined. Don’t overmix.
- Fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle a few extra walnuts on top.
- In a preheated oven at 170˚C/150˚C fan for 55–65 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
- Once cool, grill on a panini press for 3 minutes, then enjoy!
TIPS & NOTES
Overripe bananas make the best banana bread – dark and spotty is perfect. Remember not to overmix the batter. This freezes beautifully.
Recipe taken from ORDER UP! (£15, Square) orderupsquare.com
100% of proceeds from the book support the hospitality industry. £7.50 from each sale of ORDER UP! will be donated to Hospitality Action (a charity with registration number 1101083) to support hospitality workers in the UK and the remaining 50% goes directly to the restaurant where the book is purchased. (For those books sold via Square’s website, orderupsquare.com, the full amount (100%) is donated to Hospitality Action – ensuring every penny of this initiative supports the people and businesses within the industry.
Photography by Marcus Monaghan-Jones (Good Brew Inc)
