Bananas at market

By Cat, July 2007 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Includes: 1. Banana Cake (or Muffins), About Ingredients; 2. Recipe version I: Pre-Soaked Flour method; 3. Recipe version II: with Whole-Grain or Sprouted Flour (still under development); 4. Chocolate-Banana Cake Variation

See also: 1. Cakes, Tortes & Quick-Breads Menu; 2. Sprouted Grain Flour (about)

I used to shy away from mineral-rich bananas, even tho I love them, because their sweetness is a concern for my insulin resistance.  But then I learned that just-ripe bananas are sweet because they contain inulin (chains of fructose), which our bodies cannot digest into simple fructose, and thus have only a minimal effect upon blood sugar and insulin response.  [NOTE:  over-ripe bananas are overly sweet because enzymes that develop in the over-ripe banana predigest the inulin, turning it into fructose. These should be avoided if you have insulin and/or blood sugar problems.]

Inulin also has a positive effect upon the health of the digestive system, feeding probiotics in the intestines.  These bugs break it down, not into sugar, but into short-chain fatty acids, which in turn benefit our liver.

I provide three different versions for this cake (Original Whole Wheat, Sprouted Wheat, and Soaked Spelt), as described below.

Banana Cake (or Muffins)

I provide 2 version of this cake here, but the only one I make for myself is the one using pre-soaked flour, so I present it first. Following that is one recipe for which you can either use regular whole grain flour or sprouted grain flour.

This batter is rather like that for muffins, but I make it in a 9″ square cake pan. You could make it in muffin cups.

About ingredients

For this cake, choose ripe, but not overly ripe bananas (golden skin with few black spots).

I use stevia extract powder instead of sugar as the sweetener, but I provide sugar equivalence should you prefer to use sugar.   Refer to Stevia (about) for tips on working with this sweetener.

Spelt vs wheat flour: I’m learning to convert recipes from wheat to spelt, because I believe it is a more healthful grain, with superior flavor. Refer to my article Other True Grains (about) for more about spelt. (Article is about several different flours; scroll down to Spelt and Kamut Flour). Spelt requires less moisture (or more flour) in recipes than wheat or Kamut (because spelt’s protein is soluble in water). For this reason, I reduced the liquid by 2 Tbsp in my adaptations (the original recipe uses wheat).  If it is still too wet, add 1 Tbsp additional coconut flour, which will take up extra water. If you wish to use wheat or Kamut instead of spelt, see note following “Wet Ingredients” in the recipe, for adding moisture.

Coconut flour is made from the fiber left over after extracting the milk from the nut; thus it adds a lot of fiber to the recipe.  It absorbs a lot of moisture, helping the baked product to remain moist; these recipes include added moisture to compensate for what the coconut flour absorbs.  Special instructions are provided with each recipe, should you choose not to use coconut flour.

Pre-soaked Flour Version

This recipe is adapted from Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks and More! by Rita DePuydt (1), using ideas from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig (2) Soaking the whole grain flour overnight, as in this recipe, is a great way to release the nutrients in the grain (sprouting the grain before grinding is the other way).  It takes more time, but produces a far superior product. This pre-soak method is the best of the recipes presented here, for flavor and texture.  It’s a bit more trouble to remember to soak your flour the night before, but well worth the effort.

Ingredients

Pre-Soak:  

• 1cup whole spelt flour *
• 2 Tbsp plain whole milk yogurt
• 2 Tbsp boiling water
• ¼ cup milk *

Wet ingredients:  

• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• ½ tsp stevia extract powder  (or ¾ – 1 cup sugar; I recommend Rapadura sugar)
• ¼ cup coconut oil (melted/softened)
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon real vanilla extract

NOTE: if you used whole wheat or Kamut flour in presoak, add 2 Tbsp milk to the wet ingredients

Dry ingredients:

• ¼ cup unbleached white flour *
• ¼ cup coconut flour *
• ½ tsp baking soda, aluminum free
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• pinch unrefined sea salt

*  If you cannot find coconut flour,  replace it with equivalent amount of unbleached white flour and omit the ¼ cup milk in the soaking mixture.  Do not omit yogurt.

Method

Pre-soak

1. Measure whole grain flour into a bowl.
2. Measure yogurt into a 1-cup glass measuring cup.  Add boiling water; stir to combine.  Then stir in milk.
3. Stir yogurt mixture into flour until it is well blended.
4. Press a sheet of waxed paper against the flour mixture, so that the entire surface is covered.  Let sit on counter 12 hours or overnight.  When you pull off the paper in the morning, scrape any batter stuck to the paper back into the bowl.

Next Day: Mix batter

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Oil and flour 8” square cake pan (use butter or coconut oil, and unbleached white flour), and set aside.
3. Mash bananas with fork; stir in stevia and let rest while you combine remaining wet ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.  Whisk in bananas.
4. Whisk banana mixture into soaked flour (or use a stand mixer).  Sift dry ingredients and fold into batter.
5. Check texture; it should be thick, like muffin batter.  If too dry, add 1 – 2 Tbsp milk; if too wet, add coconut flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, but not more than 2 Tbsp.  Add more white flour if needed.

If batter is too wet, but you don’t have coconut flour, use white flour (but you may need more, since it is not as dry as coconut flour).

Bake

1. Scoop into prepared pan, and bake 25 – 45 minutes in preheated oven, until cake tests done when a toothpick inserted at various points comes out clean. (Muffins may take less time).
2. Cool thoroughly in pan on wire rack before cutting into squares

Testing Pre-Soak version

Testing:  5/14/08  Used ¾ cup whole spelt flour, 2 Tbsp each yogurt and boiling water, and ¼ cup milk for the soak; added 1/4 cup white flour with ¼ cup coconut flour after the soak.  After mixing batter, it needed another Tbsp coconut flour to get right texture. Rose well in oven; did not deflate.  Result:  This is the best version, by far:  Wonderful texture, nicely sweet and light.  However, I’d like to try using more soaked spelt flour and less white flour, as indicated. Testing:  8/20/08: Had larger bananas, so used 1 cup spelt flour, and still needed to add 1 Tbsp extra coconut flour and 1 Tbsp extra white flour to get the right texture for the batter.

Whole or Sprouted-Grain Version (no Pre-Soak)

The recipe is basically the same, whether you use Regular whole-grain or sprouted-grain flour; however, because of the superior nutritional value of sprouted grain, I recommend increasing the amount of the sprouted grain flour and decreasing the amount of white flour, as indicated.

This recipe is written for wheat (or Kamut); if you use spelt, you will need less milk; start with 2 Tbsp milk, then add more after mixing in dry ingredients, if batter is too thick.

Note: I have not yet tested this version (regular or sprouted flour), so instructions and replacements are hypothetical. See Sprouted Grain Flour (about) for more information about using this type of flour.

Wet ingredients:  

• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• ½ teaspoon stevia extract powder (or ¾ – 1 cup sugar; I recommend Rapadura sugar)
• ¼ cup coconut oil (melted or softened)
• 2 large eggs
• ⅓ cup plain whole milk yogurt, unsweetened (or buttermilk)
• ½ teaspoon real vanilla extract
• ¼ cup milk *

Dry ingredients:

This recipe is written for regular flour; if using sprouted flour, you may wish to increase  the amount of sprouted whole grain flour, and decrease the amount of white flour by the same amount. However, I suggest starting with ¾ cup sprouted flour, then add more, 1 Tbsp at a time, after mixing with wet ingredients. You may also need to increase the milk, 1 Tbsp at a time, after mixing wet and dry ingredients.

• ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole spelt flour *
• ½ cup unbleached white flour *
• ¼ cup coconut flour *
• ½ tsp baking soda, aluminum free
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• pinch unrefined sea salt

* NOTE: If using sprouted spelt flour, it is a drier flour than regular spelt (or wheat), so needs more moisture in recipes. reduce yogurt and milk to ¼ cup each. If you don’t have coconut flour, replace it with white flour and further reduce milk to 2 Tbsp.

If you are not using coconut flour, and are using:

• Regular wheat or Kamut flour: replace it with ¼ cup whole wheat or unbleached white flour and omit the ¼ cup milk.  Do not omit yogurt.
• Sprouted wheat or Kamut flour, reduce milk by 1 – 2 Tbsp and replace with the same amount of sprouted  flour.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰ F
2. Oil and flour 8” square cake pan (use butter or coconut oil, and unbleached white flour), and set aside.
3. Mash bananas and stir in the stevia powder until well mixed.  Set aside while you assemble the remaining ingredients.
4. Combine remaining wet ingredients in a large bowl, and whisk with an egg whip until well blended.
5. Sift dry ingredients together into a smaller bowl.
6. Stir banana mixture into the wet ingredients, mixing as well as possible so that there are no large chunks of banana.
7. Fold sifted dry ingredients into batter.
8. Scoop into prepared pan, and bake 25 – 45 minutes in preheated oven, until cake tests done when a toothpick inserted at various points comes out clean. (Muffins may take less time).
9. Cool thoroughly in pan on wire rack before cutting into squares.

Testing

Not yet tested

Chocolate-Banana Cake Variation

Make as for banana cake above, but add

• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder  (or more, to taste) to the dry ingredients.
• If you use more than 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, add additional ½ Tbsp coconut oil.

I prefer a cocoa powder that combines dark cocoa and dutch-process cocoa in the same container; or you can make your own blend.  I also prefer to buy Organic Fair-Trade cocoa brands.

References

1. Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks and More! by Rita DePuydt
2. Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig, PhD.