I’ve been inspired after a trip by the billabong, the Billabong Retreat to be precise, out in the bush an hour out northwest from Sydney CBD where I experienced a profound sense of serenity and quietness and on diet of vegetarian food for 3 days. I felt pretty amazing after that retreat and was determined to put all the nutritional advice I learnt into practice. The nutritional workshop was something I loved from the Billabong Retreat (more about that soon) and one website we were referred to, to source organic wholefoods like nutritional yeast, was Honest to Goodness. When I was browsing their website I came across a recipes section that has loads of recipes on eating well.
I found a banana cake recipe that looked pretty wholesome and the ingredients wasn’t the usual white sugar. Some banana bread I’ve tried are pretty dense, drowned in oil, butter and cream and leave you feeling heavy. I tried the recipe with my modifications and my banana cake turned out light, soft, fluffy and moist without being mushy and very delicious with a cup of chai tea with coconut milk. I added hemp seed in it as I learnt that it is high in protein (ideal for vegans looking for protein in their food) and various sources purport it has omega 3 and 6 fatty acids which promote cardiovascular health and high in Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA), an essential omega 6 fatty acid that’s said to naturally balance hormones. You should do your own research on the benefits of hemp seeds and I thought a sprinkle would be a different addition to a banana cake.
Here is the adapted recipe that’s vegetarian and dairy free. If you don’t like nuts then you can leave them out of the recipe:
Ingredients
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup organic coconut oil, melted
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
2 large free-range eggs
1/2 cup almond & coconut milk (I used Drink Bruce, you can just use plain almond milk)
1/4 cup hemp seeds
3/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sultanas
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups Whitewings Wholseome blend of wheat, coconut, oat and millet flour or you can use organic unbleached plain flour
1 tbsp aluminium-free baking powder
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a loaf pan with baking paper.
- With an electric beater, cream sugar and coconut oil until smooth. Add the banana, egg, almond milk and vanilla, mix until just combined.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder in a small bowl. Add the sultanas, hemp seeds and walnuts into the flour and stir through.
- Gently fold the flour mixture into the banana until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Serve it with a hot cup of chai tea with coconut milk and there you have a nutritious loaf of afternoon tea!
Reference: Honest to Goodness website
Healthy banana cake recipe