A Recipe to Make Banana Cake That Is Healthy and Delicious at the Same Time!

Banana cakes are the most traditional way of telling someone that you love them. When curating a care package, you will invariably find someone adding a huge loaf of banana cake within that, almost like a universal sign to denote the care and warmth they feel for the other. Banana cakes are easy to prepare, even if you do not have the most astute skill sets as a baker. All you need are basic ingredients and a few loaf pans and you should have a smooth sail through the whole process of baking.

But, more often than not, these cakes can be loaded with unhealthy fats and sugars. That is something you definitely want to avoid and would want to bake healthy alternatives of the same, that allows you to both enjoy the wonders of this sweet delectable, but also not worry too much about the unwanted calories. There are ways to achieve both. One of the safest ways of baking the Banana cake is by using whole ingredients. Natural sweeteners are also another top-notch solution to make it healthy. These steps will ensure that you always remain a step ahead in terms of being a conscious baker. Not only will these steps satiate your sweet cravings, but they will also ensure that your body gets the required nourishment without the harmful effects that come with eating desserts.

Ingredients:

1. ½ cup almond four
2. 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
3. 1 tsp baking powder
4. ½ tsp baking soda
5. ¼ tsp salt
6. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
7. ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

1. ¼ cup coconut oil, melted (any light oil such as avocado or olive oil will also work)
2. ½ cup honey (maple syrup will also work)
3. 1 tsp vanilla extract
4. ¼ cup Greek yoghurt (this is an optional step, generally included for extra moisture)
5. 2 large eggs
6. 3 ripe bananas (preferably mashed)

Add-ons

1. ½ cup dark choco chips or raisins
2. ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Method:

1. You need to first preheat your oven to 175°C. After this, you need to make the surfaces of your loaf pan greasy with butter or you could also put a parchment paper over it in order to prevent the cake from sticking.
2. In a large mixing bowl, you now have to whisk almond flour, baking powder, wheat flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg with whole wheat flour. Please make sure that all these are mixed well. You need to see whether all the leavening agents are uniformly spread through the batter.
3. Take another medium bowl and mix the mashed bananas with the eggs, oil, honey (or maple syrup), melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, and Greek yoghurt (if you choose to include it). Keep stirring until the batter is smooth and blended perfectly. The bananas should be mashed well to make sure the texture is consistent in the batter.
4. Please add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and keep mixing with a gentle hand until the two components just about blend with the other. Please make sure that you do not overmix since that may result in a dry batter and ultimately give rise to a dense cake. In case you are adding choco chips, nuts or raisins, you need to fold them in at this stage.
5. Now pour the final mixture into the pre-prepared loaf pan and spread it uniformly with the help of a spatula. Please give the pan a few gentle taps to make sure the batter settles down properly without forming any bubbles from within.
6. Put the loaf pan into the pre-heated oven for about an hour. You may want to check the done-ness of the loaf by poking a toothpick into the cake after the 60-min time period. If the edge of the stick comes out dry, you can be assured that your cake is ready.
7. Once the cake is prepared, remove it from the oven and allow it to completely cool down to room temperature. This should take around 10 minutes. After this, you may transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely. This is a crucial step since this allows all the multiple flavours to settle down before the cake can be sliced and served to guests.