With such adorable mini-loaf pans, is it any surprise that I wanted to make banana bread very very extremely much? They were a gift from my brother-in-law's girlfriend and I fell in love with the little things right away. There was also a recipe for bana-carrot cake from Cooking Light that I badly wanted to try. What else could I do but bring the two together and make banana-carrot mini loaves. Or rather, 6 mini loaves and one square cake that I cut into bars. Voila! - banana-carrot cake bars!
I will confess right away, I didn't expect this cake to turn out so heavy... but considering it uses no eggs and only 1/2 cup oil for the batter, I guess I should not have been quite so surprised. However, I was more than pleased with the flavour, and I loved the texture, dense and chewy, made even more so by the chopped nuts I used. The loaves were more like flapjacks, really. Yum-MEE! We just couldnt stop eating them, believe me.
I guess this would have been a really low-calorie recipe but for the nuts... but I wouldnt have left them out for the world. Sorry, Cooking Light magazine!
Recipe for: Banana-carrot cake bars (adapted from Cooking Light magazine)
Ingredients:
Three large bananas, mashed smooth
2 generous cups grated carrot
2-1/4 cups flour (I used 1 cup white, 1-1/4 cup wholewheat)
1/2 cup oil
up to 1 cup brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup Splenda and 1/4 cup brown sugar)
1/2 tsp crushed/powdered cardamom seeds
1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts (I used pecans, pistachios and almonds)
1/2 cup golden sultanas
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F), and grease an 8" square cake pan (or about a dozen mini pans, if you have them).
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the flour and cut in lightly, the mix until the batter is moistened. Add a few tbsp milk if the batter is very thick.
3. Pour the batter in the greased pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake tests done.
4. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Cut into bars when cool. Store in an airtight tin.
5 comments:
Those are lovely. The loaves look quite big actually.
I can't but agree with you ,they look so good :) really yummmmmmy!! guess, even walnuts would go great with anything baked with banana --It gives that crunchy edge !
If given a choice with nuts, I would just load it with walnuts!!!!!!!
i love banana in anything. this must be good!
Mika - they're small, allright :) It's the camera that makes them look bigger than they are.
Lera - Y'know, I find walnuts somewhat bitter... I hardly use them. I like pecans more - similar taste without being bitter! :)
Rokh - it IS good! My stepdaughter loves it, so it's gotta be.
Shammi, these look great. I love banana nut bread. Must try your recipe sometime.
Post a Comment