If you searched for a banana cake recipe Delia Smith wrote, the one you want is her Banana and Walnut Loaf. Delia Online says it comes from Delia’s Cakes, the 2013 update of her 1977 Delia’s Book of Cakes. It’s a loaf rather than a round cake, with a sandy batter, plenty of banana and a crunchy demerara top.
Her page leaves a few things vague: which tin to use, what the bananas weigh, and what to set a fan oven to. I’ve filled those gaps below and written the method in my own words. I’m not connected to Delia Smith or Delia Online, so use her page if you want her exact wording.
Jump to the recipe card at the end of this page for exact quantities and a printable version.
What’s in It
The loaf uses plain flour, baking powder, butter, lard, one large egg, caster sugar, medium bananas, chopped walnuts, the zest of an orange and a lemon, and a spoonful of demerara sugar for the top. There’s no milk, oil or yoghurt, so the bananas supply nearly all the moisture. You need a 2lb loaf tin (more on that below), baking parchment or a loaf tin liner, and an electric hand whisk.
Is This Really Delia’s Recipe?
Yes. Delia Online’s own page says it is from Delia’s Cakes, and it is the closing recipe in Lesson 5 (Loaf Cakes) of the First Term in her online Cookery School. The school describes the loaf as having a sandy texture, which matches the method.
Plenty of other pages use a similar name but are different recipes. BBC Good Food’s banana and walnut loaf, for example, uses 100g butter, 140g sugar, 85g walnuts and 50ml milk, with no lard and no zest, and bakes for about an hour. If your loaf turned out differently from Delia’s, check which recipe you followed.
How I Make It
- Heat the oven and ready the tin. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4). Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or a loaf tin liner. Set the shelf low, so the top of the tin sits level with the middle of the oven, which is what Delia’s page asks for. My reading is that this stops the sugary top browning before the middle sets.
- Zest and chop. Finely grate the zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon. Roughly chop 50g of walnuts. Taste a piece of walnut first, because old nuts can be bitter and that will carry into the cake.
- Sift the dry ingredients. Sift 225g plain flour and 2 level teaspoons of baking powder into a large bowl. Hold the sieve up high. It adds air and spreads the baking powder evenly.
- Add the fat, egg and sugar. Put 40g butter and 40g lard (both at room temperature), 1 beaten large egg and 110g caster sugar into the same bowl.
- Whisk until sandy. Use an electric hand whisk for about 1 minute. The mix should look like damp sand. It won’t look like cake batter yet, and that’s fine.
- Mash and whisk in the bananas. In a separate bowl, mash 4 medium bananas (about 470g peeled) to a pulp with a large fork. Whisk them briefly into the bowl. The sandy mix turns into a thick, wet batter.
- Fold in the walnuts and zest. Use a spoon or spatula and fold gently, just until mixed.
- Fill and top. Spoon the batter into the tin and level the top with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle 1 rounded tablespoon of demerara sugar over the top.
- Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes. It’s ready when a skewer pushed into the centre comes out with no wet batter on it and the top is deep golden. In a fan oven I’d start checking at 1 hour, because fan ovens often cook a little faster.
- Cool in stages. Leave the loaf in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. I’d wait at least 30 minutes before slicing so the crumb sets. Delia’s page says to store it in an airtight tin in its liner.
The Tin Size Nobody Explains
Delia’s page asks for a “Delia Online 1lb Loaf Tin (or a standard 2lb loaf tin)” and says both sizes are correct. That looks like a typo, but it isn’t. The Delia Online tin is made by Silverwood, and the Lakeland listing explains that Silverwood and other bakers call this size a 1lb tin because it was first sold to bakers as a pan for a 1lb loaf. Other makers call the same size a 2lb tin, because it holds about 2lb of wet mixture. So a Delia Online tin and a standard 2lb tin are the same size.
This matters because a true small 1lb tin (one UK baking guide puts it at around 16cm long) is too small. I worked out the batter weight by adding up the ingredients, and it comes to about 1kg, so a small tin would overflow. The same confusion applies to liners. If a shop sells a “2lb loaf tin liner”, that is the one to buy.
The Banana Weight Nobody Mentions
Delia says 4 medium bananas and gives no weight. The USDA lists a medium banana at about 118g peeled, so I multiplied that by 4 and got about 470g. That is roughly twice the weight of the flour (225g). By my sums the bananas make up close to half of the batter by weight.
So the bananas are doing the job of the milk or oil you’d find in other loaves. Too little banana and the crumb can turn dry. Too much and the centre can stay damp and need longer in the oven. If your bananas are small, weigh them after peeling and aim for 450g to 500g. Use bananas with plenty of brown freckles, because as a banana ripens its starch turns to sugar, so the flavour is sweeter and stronger.
Butter, Lard or Spreadable Butter: What Changes
Delia’s page says you could use spreadable butter. A reader asked on Delia Online what to use instead of lard, and the answer was butter or margarine. Lard is animal fat, so the loaf as written isn’t vegetarian. An all-butter version is.
I haven’t baked the swap, so this is arithmetic only. Lard is close to 100% fat, while butter is roughly 80% fat with some water. Swapping the 40g of lard for 40g of butter takes about 7g of fat out of the whole loaf, which is under 1g a slice, and adds about 6g of water. Spreadable butters vary a lot, and lower-fat ones carry more water, so check the label if you go that way. The loaf may come out softer.
Scaling and Oven Settings Cheat Sheet
Oven: 180°C is gas mark 4. For a fan oven I use 160°C, which is the usual 20°C drop. Delia’s fan oven page is linked from her recipe, but I couldn’t open it, so treat 160°C as my conversion and check your oven manual.
Scaling: I multiplied each quantity by hand. For a double batch, bake in two 2lb tins rather than one big tin. A half batch needs a smaller tin and less time, and I haven’t verified a time for it, so start checking early.
Common Mistakes and How I Fixed Them
- It looks wrong at the sandy stage. Cause: the batter looks dry and crumbly before the bananas go in. Fix: this is how the recipe is meant to look. Carry on and the mashed bananas turn it into batter.
- The middle is gummy or sinks. Cause: too much banana, an underbaked middle, or opening the oven door early. Fix: weigh the bananas, leave the door shut for the first hour and use the skewer test.
- The batter overflows. Cause: the tin is a true small 1lb tin. Fix: use a 2lb loaf tin, the same size as Delia’s “1lb” Silverwood tin.
- The top is dark but the middle is raw. Cause: the shelf is too high, or the oven runs hot. Fix: bake on a lower shelf, check your oven with a thermometer, and cover the top loosely with foil if it’s deep brown well before the end.
- The cake tastes bitter. Cause: stale walnuts. Fix: taste one before you chop, and keep nuts in a sealed container.
- The loaf sticks. Cause: no liner, or turning out too soon. Fix: line the tin and rest the loaf for 10 minutes first.
Variations and Substitutions
- No lard: Use 80g butter in total for a vegetarian loaf.
- One zest only: The recipe uses both fruits. If you only have one, use that one and expect a slightly different flavour.
- Gluten free: Delia’s Cakes says over 90% of its recipes have been tested gluten-free, but I couldn’t confirm which swap she uses for this loaf. The quantities here use plain wheat flour. If you try a gluten-free plain flour blend, check the baking powder label too.
What to Serve With It
A slice with butter and a cup of tea is the simple choice. Warm slices are good with custard or a spoonful of double cream. If a loaf has gone a little firm after a few days, toast a slice under the grill and spread it with honey.
Make Ahead, Storing and Freezing
Delia’s page says to store the loaf in an airtight tin in its liner. It doesn’t give a keeping time. Banana loaves are moist, so my own cautious rule is to eat it within 3 days and freeze what’s left. For freezing, slice the cooled loaf, wrap the slices tightly and freeze. BBC Good Food says its own banana and walnut loaf freezes for up to 1 month, and I’d use that as a guide. Defrost slices at room temperature, then warm briefly if you like. You can bake it the day before you need it.
FAQs
Is there a Delia Smith banana cake recipe?
Her banana recipe is the Banana and Walnut Loaf in Delia’s Cakes. I found no separate banana cake on her site, though I couldn’t check every page.
What can I use instead of lard?
Delia Online’s answer to a reader was butter or margarine. Her intro also says spreadable butter works.
What oven temperature should I use?
180°C, gas mark 4. For a fan oven I use 160°C, my own conversion, and I start checking at 1 hour.
Which tin do I need for Delia’s banana and walnut loaf?
A standard 2lb loaf tin. Delia’s “1lb” Silverwood tin is the same size, just named differently.
How long does it take to bake?
Delia’s page says about 1 hour 10 minutes. Check with a skewer, and look earlier in a fan oven.
How many bananas do I need, and what do they weigh?
4 medium bananas, which is about 470g peeled by my calculation. Aim for 450g to 500g.
Can I make it gluten free?
I haven’t tested it. The recipe as written uses plain wheat flour. A gluten-free plain flour blend is the swap to try, and check your baking powder label.
How many slices does it make, and how much sugar is in a slice?
Delia’s page gives no yield. I cut it into 10 slices. By my estimate each slice has about 19g of sugar, including the sugar naturally in the bananas.
One Last Thing
Weigh your bananas, use a 2lb tin and give it the full time before you open the oven door. Those three things matter more than anything else here. I haven’t listed a source for the storing times beyond Delia’s tin advice, so treat them as sensible guidance and use your own judgement.
Delia Smith Banana and Walnut Loaf (Banana Cake Recipe)
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat oven. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4). Put the shelf low, so the top of the tin sits level with the middle of the oven. Line a 2lb loaf tin.
- Prep flavourings. Finely grate the orange and lemon zest. Roughly chop the walnuts.
- Sift dry ingredients. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, holding the sieve high.
- Add fat, egg, sugar. Add the butter, lard, beaten egg and caster sugar to the bowl.
- Whisk until sandy. Whisk with an electric hand whisk for about 1 minute until the mix looks like damp sand.
- Mash bananas. Mash the bananas to a pulp in a separate bowl. Whisk them briefly into the mix.
- Fold in. Fold in the walnuts and zest until just mixed.
- Fill tin. Spoon the batter into the tin, level the top and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.
- Bake loaf. Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes, until a skewer in the centre comes out with no wet batter. Start checking at 1 hour in a fan oven.
- Cool down. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- 160°C fan is my own conversion (the usual 20°C drop). Delia’s fan oven page was not checked, so start testing at 1 hour.
- Use a standard 2lb loaf tin. Delia’s “1lb” Silverwood tin is the same size. A true small 1lb tin will overflow.
- Weigh the peeled bananas. 4 medium bananas is about 470 g by my calculation, and 450 g to 500 g works.
- The loaf is done when a skewer in the centre has no wet batter on it and the top is deep golden.
- For a vegetarian loaf, use 80 g butter in total. Delia Online suggests butter or margarine instead of lard, and spreadable butter in the intro.
- Store in an airtight tin in its liner. I suggest eating within 3 days, or freezing slices for up to 1 month.
Tried This Banana Cake? I’d Love to Hear From You!
Did you make this Delia Smith-inspired Banana Cake Recipe? I’d love to know how yours turned out! Was it beautifully moist and fluffy, or did you add your own delicious twist?
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Happy baking!
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