Oaty banana snack cake

I don't know where I got this recipe - it was in my collection of recipes, hand-written in those days when I (presumably) didn't have a printer handy. I can't imagine why else I would have written it out painstakingly rather than printing it. Once upon a time, I used to be an enthusiastic letter writer, writing chatty letters of up to a dozen pages to penpals and friends. In fact, the number of handwritten pages doubled if I was writing to my German penpals at the time, because I'd have to compose my letter in "rough" (because of the many stop-starts and cross-outs) and then copy it out again in "fair". 

And to think that now, if I have to write more than 10 lines at a stretch, I get cramps in my hand...! Yes, actual cramps - and honestly I don't know whether that's due to old age or the unaccustomedness of exerting pressure on a pen with my fingers. I did attempt to write longhand letters to a couple of old friends recently, but the effort didn't last beyond two exchanges. The fact that I don't write anymore has no bearing on my love for writing paper and fountain pens - I just LOVE both!

Um... yes, I do realise that pens, paper and handwritten letters have no bearing on this recipe. The cake is chewy with oats, rich with the flavour of bananas and not very sweet. I used an expensive brand of orange oil extract because I didn't have any oranges (for zest). But do use actual fresh orange zest (and 1/4 cup of orange juice) if you have them. The batter is thick enough to take the optional 1/4 cup of juice without becoming overly runny.

Recipe for: Oaty banana cake

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups oats (I used organic jumbo oats)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/3 heaping cup demerara sugar (or use brown sugar)
1/3 cup sultanas or raisins
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (two medium)

1 large egg
1 cup yogurt (I used low-fat Greek style)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest or 2 tsp orange oil extract
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup orange juice (optional)

Method:

1. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins and cinnamon powder in a large bowl.

2. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg, then whisk in the yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, orange zest

and mashed bananas.


3. Pour the wet batter into the dry mix,

then lightly stir until just mixed.

Do not overbeat. The batter will be quite thick.
4. Spray a 7" square baking pan with Pam (or grease thoroughly with butter, if you like), and pour the batter into the pan.
5. Bake at 180C/350F for about 30-40 minutes, or till a tester comes out clean.

Check the cake after 30 minutes and keep an eye on it thereafter. Once the cake is done, let it remain in the pan for 5  minutes. Remove to a wire cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cut into bars and serve. 

RECIPE: OATY BANANA SNACK CAKE

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups oats (I used organic jumbo oats)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/3 heaping cup demerara sugar (or use brown sugar)

1/3 cup sultanas or raisins

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (two medium)

1 large egg

1 cup yogurt (I used low-fat Greek style)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp orange zest or 2 tsp orange oil extract

2 tbsp oil 
1/4 cup orange juice (optional)

Method:

1. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins and cinnamon powder in a large bowl. 

2. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg, then whisk in the yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, orange zest and mashed bananas. 

3. Pour the wet batter into the dry mix, then lightly stir until just mixed. Do not overbeat. The batter will be quite thick. 

4. Spray a 7" square baking pan with Pam (or grease thoroughly with butter, if you like), and pour the batter into the pan. 

5. Bake at 180C/350F for about 30-40 minutes, or till a tester comes out clean. Check the cake after 30 minutes and keep an eye on it thereafter. Once the cake is done, let it remain in the pan for 5  minutes. Remove to a wire cooling rack. When the cake is cool, cut into bars and serve. 

Eggless banana almond fruitcake

My husband loves fruitcake in all forms – heavy and dense, light and fluffy, dry and crumbly, with exotic dried fruit or just with currants, with nuts or without, egg-free or eggful, fancy or homely, buzzing with alcohol or completely teetotal… you name it, he’ll eat it. Of course it goes without saying that he prefers fruitcake that's well-made to one that's second-rate... but in a pinch he'll eat the second-rate one too. In general he can be as nutty as a – pardon me for this – fruitcake when it comes to this variety of cake. Me, on the other hand… I can take fruitcake or leave it. It’s marginally more “take it” if it’s got nuts in it that cut the sweetness of all the dried fruit, so I usually add some to most fruitcakes I make.

And because Pete mostly doesn’t mind how his fruitcake turns out, as long as it’s not turned to coal, I feel free to experiment without worrying about “what ifs” like “what if the cake’s heavy like a brick”, or “what if it’s so crumbly that you choke on fruitcake dust”, and so on. (I’ve even made fruitcake with dark chocolate that needs to see the light of day at some point.)

Anyway, this cake combines the best of what Pete likes (dried fruit) with the best of what I like (banana) with some dried sour cherries (bought in the YewYessYay, naturally) thrown in for that “exotic” touch. The addition of mashed overripe bananas was a touch of genius if I do say so myself, because the flavour it gave the fruitcake – helped by the addition of cardamom powder – was luvverly. It was almost like an Indian fruitcake, if there is such a thing. If there isn’t, there is now.

The cake keeps well and stays moist at room temperature (under cover, that is, not left open to the elements) for at least a week that I can vouch for. We both think it tastes gorgeous too – let me put it this way, we’re all three made for each other because if he’s nutty about banana fruitcake, I’m bananas about nutty fruitcake, and the fruitcake is bananas and nuts anyway. See what I mean?

Recipe for: Banana almond fruitcake



Ingredients:

2 medium overripe bananas, mashed well
1-1/2 cups plain flour or wholewheat cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (I used currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt. 2. Add the dried fruit



and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.



3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana.



Mix again.

4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go.



The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,



5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased with butter.



Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently. 6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.



7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

RECIPE: EGGLESS BANANA ALMOND FRUITCAKE

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt.
2. Add the dried fruit and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.
3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana. Mix again.
4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go. The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,
5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased well with butter. Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently.
6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.

End-of-the-line chocolate banana marble cake

If I were a house-proud, kitchen-efficient, recipe-perfect kitchen goddess who knows exactly what’s in her larder/pantry down to the last half-teaspoon and thus plans or even creates new recipes to finish up comestibles according to their expiry date, I would probably be terminally ashamed to know me. Luckily I’m not a kitchen goddess, so I’m not really ashamed of me, and only mildly embarrassed to admit to having a kitchen that is cluttered with bits and pieces of various things that are nearly-but-not-quite at the end of their edible life.

Once in a while, though, I manage to finish off a couple or three items in one recipe – usually cakes, because they’re fairly forgiving of odd additions so long as you get the flour-leavening-fat ratio reasonably right. This cake is one such. I call it an end-of-the-line cake because its ingredients are pretty much all end of the line - very overripe bananas, the last of a tin of cocoa powder, a couple of tablespoons or so of chocolate chips, some nuts, some buckwheat flour and some very lumpy dark brown sugar.

In hindsight, I should have used that dark brown sugar elsewhere (or maybe even just fed the dustbin with it - the effort I had to expend to break down the damn lumps... honestly!) because I was supposed to be making a marble cake.

As you would expect, marble cakes look their best when they have a light-coloured and a dark coloured portion. Using dark brown sugar for the batter made it quite dark… and then adding the cocoa to part of it made it darker still, so that the marbling was not exactly what you’d call visible. Dark and darker isn’t really a contrast.

*sigh*

Oh well, non-domestic non-kitchen non-goddess proposes, and God(dess) - possibly Domestic, possibly not - disposes...

Luckily the cake tasted good even if it didn’t make the mark on the fair-and-pretty factor.

Recipe for: Chocolate banana marble cake


(That shadowy effect on the wedge of cake isn't a shadow - it's the cocoa-dark portion! So much for marbling...)

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 small overripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
6 tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tbsp chopped toasted nuts
2 tbsp dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C/350F. Spray 7" square pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a big bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.


3. In another mixing bowl, combine the oil, sugar, and bananas.



Beat until combined.

4. Add the eggs and vanilla to the mix and beat.



5. Then mix in the yogurt.



6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and fold in.



7. Spoon half the batter into the greased pan in dollops.

8. Add cocoa to the remaining batter in the mixing bowl and stir until just combined.



9. Spoon chocolate batter in clumps around the pan, leaving some lighter colored spaces.



Sprinkle the nuts and choc chips over the top of the batter. Use a knife to swirl the batters together, taking care not to mix them too much.

10. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until tester comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes before removing the cake. Cool completely before cutting.

Choc chip banana bread

So, sometimes I can be quite slow at picking up on things – like the fact that chocolate chips in banana bread really do work quite well. I guess since I’m not overly crazy about chocolate, I've not bothered to try banana bread recipes that specified chocolate. This time I added the semi-sweet chocolate chips because they were just past their best-by date and any more time on the shelf would have only seen 'em off into the rubbish bin. The choc chips added moistness to the bread (an unexpected plus) – or at least I think they did. The bread might have been moist anyway because the bananas I used were almost at the liquid stage of ripe.



Anyhow - Pete loved the banana bread (he’s not much of a fan of this, most other times), and I found the choc chips in it surprisingly nice too. Who knew that chocolate and bananas would work well together...! (apart from the millions of others who’ve already tried and tested and written about the combination, that is.)

Recipe for: Choc chip banana bread



Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I used 1 cup AP and 1 cup wholewheat)
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 overripe bananas
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter/margarine, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cups mixed nuts, chopped (I used walnuts, pecans and brazils)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F and lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. Mash 2 bananas with a fork in a small bowl. They should be a bit lumpy.



4. In another bowl, whisk the remaining bananas and sugar together till well combined.



5. Add the melted butter/margarine, eggs, and vanilla and beat well.



Stir in the reserved mashed bananas.

6. Add the mashed bananas to the flour and mix till just incorporated.



7. Fold in the nuts and the chocolate chips



then pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin.



Bake for about 45 minutes or so (but start checking after 30 minutes), until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.



8. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Fat-free banana applesauce cake

I am writing this post from an exalted plane, a level where virtuousness reigns supreme, accompanied by just the tiniest smidgen of self-satisfied smugness. I am determined to milk this (relax, it’s fat-free milk) situation for all it’s worth because virtuousness is not usually something to which I can lay claim. Even less do I aspire to it (but that’s a different story altogether).

However, do not despair, dear readers.

Note: I address those of you who, like me, do not always land on the right side of the fat-free, guilt-free, calorie-free, heart-healthy, artery-safe and 5-a-day lifestyle that every food blog, every food writer (and every government diktat) advocates. Those of you who are already converted, you may as well stop reading right here… I preach to my fellow sinners, not the already-converted-and-preaching-themselves (heheh)!

Right, to get back on track… do not despair, dear-readers-who-are-like-me. It is possible for every one of you to reach this plane.

All it takes is applesauce, in a three-step plan.

First step - Make your applesauce. (It’s got to be home-made to reach that highest plane. Sure you can use store-bought applesauce, but the virtue level won’t be as high). So.

Second step – Use the applesauce in a cake. For preference, the banana cake that I made for a friend (recipe below). Sure you can make your own cake following some other recipe, but the virtue level won’t be as high. Note: This is MY recipe for illustriousness, so what I say is Gospel. Or Shyamusmriti, for the Hindu-minded. (Sorry, Manu, this is my show.)

Third step – Cool, cut and eat.

That’s all.

To recap: Make applesauce. Make cake with applesauce. Cool. Cut. Eat. Attain afore-mentioned exalted level.

Recipe for: Fat-free applesauce banana cake



Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
1 tbsp oil
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 cups applesauce
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cups nuts of choice, coarsely chopped (I used walnuts) - optional

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F/180C. Spray 6" round baking tin (or bundt pan) with Pam.

2. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until it's mushy. Add the oil, applesauce sugar, cardamom and cinnamon and mix together.



3. In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour baking powder and baking soda.

4. Add the banana mixture to the flour and fold in gently until just mixed. Do not beat. Stir in the chopped nuts if using.

5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan



and bake till done and a cake tester comes out clean.



6. Let cool in the pan 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely. Ice lightly if preferred with a simple mixture of icing sugar mixed with milk or cream and a bit of vanilla extract to a thick but pouring consistency.

Note: To make applesauce, chop up two large cooking apples and pressure-cook them for three whistles. Run the cooled cooked apples in a blender to make smooth applesauce.

Banana-carrot cake bars

Arent they CUTE? :)



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.

Banana bread

I dont know why banana bread is usually baked like actual bread, in a loaf shape. I've tried it baking it in a round tin and in a square tin and really they taste exactly the same, except that you get wedge-shaped slices from a round cake, square or rectangular slices from a square cake - and slices from a loaf, obviously. I dont know why it isnt called banana cake - but it isnt, for some obscure reason.

Anyway, this time I opted to bake it in a loaf tin, as tradition seems to call for. Of course, I added cardamom powder again - I cant resist it. It smells so heavenly along with the banana smell as the cake cooks in the oven. And man, were my bananas ripe! They were so ripe that I think it was only the skins holding the pulp in. Yucky to eat and rather gross to look at, but in a cake or a smoothie, overripe bananas are so aromatic and add so much sweetness. I hardly even had to mash them :)

Recipe for Easy Banana Bread



Ingredients:

3 overripe bananas, mashed
2 cups plain or cake flour
1-1/2 cups caster or granulated sugar (I used 1 cup light sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened but not melted
2 eggs
1 tsp powdered cardamom seeds
1/2 cup pecans/walnuts/macadamias/brazils, roughly chopped (any or all of these is ok to use)

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition

3. Add the mashed bananas and mix well.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

5. Add the flour, nuts and cardamom powder to the banana mix, stirring only to mix. DO NOT BEAT.

6. Bake in a well-greased loaf tin for about an hour, or till done, in a 180 C oven (350 F).

7. Let the bread remain in the tin for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool. It can be eaten warm (rather nice that way).