Name: Banana Black Walnut Cake with Caramel Frosting
Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ cup solid vegetable shortening; 1½ cups sugar; 2 eggs; 2 ripe bananas mashed; ¼ cup buttermilk; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 1 cup chopped black walnuts

Why it works: Banana and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,430 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Banana Black Walnut Cake with Caramel Frosting

Oven350°F

Time35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease and flour 2 cake pans.
In a medium bowl stir together flour and baking soda then set aside.

Make the batter

Using an electric mixer cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Mix in mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.
Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Stir in black walnuts then pour into prepared pans and bake 35 minutes.

Cool

Cool in pans on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1096Calories

29 gProtein

43 gFat

148 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 9 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Banana	1 medium (118g)	105
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Black Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Banana + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,430 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vanilla + walnuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,730 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Ripe bananas: Add moisture and natural sweetness to the crumb.
Solid vegetable shortening: Creaming with sugar traps air that gives the cake a tender texture.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and bananas to help the cake rise.
Buttermilk: Its acidity tenderizes the crumb and reacts with baking soda for lift.

The step that matters

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beating air into the fat and sugar creates the bubbles that help the cake rise and keep its texture light. Under-creaming leaves a denser cake.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, banana, buttermilk, vanilla):

Almondfits better
Hazelnutfits better
Chestnutfits better
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, banana, buttermilk, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes

Banana Filling16 recipes

Buttermilk Pie12 recipes

Banana Sherbet10 recipes

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Banana Black Walnut Cake with Caramel Frosting