Healthy Banana Cake

[Cub]

I'm a big fan of banana cake, but it's hard to find a recipe that doesn't contain mass amounts of sugar and unhealthy fats. So I took an existing recipe and played around with the ingredients to develop a decent tasting banana cake that is relatively clean. You'll need:

• 2 cups of wholemeal flour
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ a teaspoon of bi-carb soda
• ½ cup of skim milk
• 1 ½ cups of Splenda
• 2-3 eggs
• ½ cup of olive oil
• ½ a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3 mashed bananas

Use an electric beater to mix together the eggs and the Splenda together. Add the oil, vanilla and the mashed banana. Continue to beat the mixture and sift the dry ingredients in whilst adding the milk. It turns into a thick batter. Pour it into a cake tin (I like the long narrow ones) and stick it in the oven on 180º celsius for around 40 minutes. I’m not the best when it comes to working out the macronutrients of foods so if anyone is interested, please feel free to do so. I’ll post a picture of what it looks like shortly.

 

[tim1985]

Wow this sounds really good!

 

[Cub]

It tastes unreal. As you can see I've substituted the butter for olive oil, the sugar for Splenda and the plain flour for wholemeal. I guess you could fiddle around with it even more and add whey or maybe just use egg whites. I haven't gone that far yet. It comes out really moist just like the real stuff, but I wouldn't mind coming up with some sort of icing that was clean too. Maybe some sort of fat free cream cheese variation.

 

[tim1985]

I think the fat free cream cheese sounds like a good idea, I actually make cheese cake filling using fat free cream cheese w/ vanilla extract and splenda. That would probably make a descent topping for it.

 

[AnonyMoose]

pretty impressive you galloping gourmet you.

 

[Jaynandez]

Nice. I will have to try this.

 

[futurepilot]

I'm a big fan of banana cake, but it's hard to find a recipe that doesn't contain mass amounts of sugar and unhealthy fats.

you big baby, sugar and fat never killed anyone! Oh wait, sorry.....

recipe looks good. If you can find a tasty fat free cream cheese it goes good, ive had a similar cake at an organic bakery.

 

[AnonyMoose]

cub - you using really ripe bananas for this?

 

[Cub]

cub - you using really ripe bananas for this?

As far as flavour goes, it seems to work best with some really ripe bananas. Fruit stores in my area often sell bags of ripe bananas really cheap rather than throwing them out ($1 a big bag). I buy fresh ones for shakes and eating, and ripe ones for the cake.

 

[Inarius]

looks great. I'll have to make some soon.

 

[OCCFan023]

I love the "exotic" breads. Pumpkin bread is by far my favorite, but I am going to get down on this asap (no homo).

 

[jakellpet]

As far as flavour goes, it seems to work best with some really ripe bananas. Fruit stores in my area often sell bags of ripe bananas really cheap rather than throwing them out ($1 a big bag). I buy fresh ones for shakes and eating, and ripe ones for the cake.

Doesn't look pretty Cub - worth a try but.

 

[Rhys26]

I'm a big fan of banana cake, but it's hard to find a recipe that doesn't contain mass amounts of sugar and unhealthy fats. So I took an existing recipe and played around with the ingredients to develop a decent tasting banana cake that is relatively clean. You'll need:

• 2 cups of wholemeal flour
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ a teaspoon of bi-carb soda
• ½ cup of skim milk
• 1 ½ cups of Splenda
• 2-3 eggs
• ½ cup of olive oil
• ½ a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3 mashed bananas

Use an electric beater to mix together the eggs and the Splenda together. Add the oil, vanilla and the mashed banana. Continue to beat the mixture and sift the dry ingredients in whilst adding the milk. It turns into a thick batter. Pour it into a cake tin (I like the long narrow ones) and stick it in the oven on 180º for around 40 minutes. I’m not the best when it comes to working out the macronutrients of foods so if anyone is interested, please feel free to do so. I’ll post a picture of what it looks like shortly.

how much does 1 1/2 cups of splenda cost?

 

[Mulletsoldier]

My gf made this for me last night; amazing! She baked it twice as long, and in two halves Cub, and it looked perfectly square and what not. May want to try that method.

 

[Cub]

how much does 1 1/2 cups of splenda cost?

Not too sure exactly, but a box over here is about $8 (Aussies get ripped off) which would probably do three or so. My last loaf had only one cup of Splenda and a tablespoon of honey. Tasted even better Good to see others trying it Mullet! We'll have to keep pitching in ideas to make the mother of all banana cakes :food:

 

[Rhys26]

Not too sure exactly, but a box over here is about $8 (Aussies get ripped off) which would probably do three or so. My last loaf had only one cup of Splenda and a tablespoon of honey. Tasted even better Good to see others trying it Mullet! We'll have to keep pitching in ideas to make the mother of all banana cakes :food:

Ok will have to give it a go. Doesn't look like there is much in those splenda boxes at woolies.

 

[Cub]

Ok will have to give it a go. Doesn't look like there is much in those splenda boxes at woolies.

I just made one then and I swear it took less than ten minutes to gather the ingredients, mix them up and throw it in the oven. I'm eating it for breakfast with a protein shake a few times a week. Plenty of clean calories

 

[Rhys26]

I just made one then and I swear it took less than ten minutes to gather the ingredients, mix them up and throw it in the oven. I'm eating it for breakfast with a protein shake a few times a week. Plenty of clean calories

Looks awesome

Anyone worked out the macros yet?

 

[hardworker1]

mmmm yummmm

 

[MrBrightside]

I'm a sh**** cook, and don't know anything about it, but my mom recently substituted the crisco/olive oil in fried chicken for pam. Do you think this could work for the cake for taking down the fat content?

 

[milwood]

how much does 1 1/2 cups of splenda cost?

Don't forget that the boxes of (bulk) splenda are different than the packets in terms of volume. The 1 1/2 cups of (boxed) splenda could only be equivalent to like 20 packets or something (that's a total guess, but see my point?).

 

[Cub]

I'm a sh**** cook, and don't know anything about it, but my mom recently substituted the crisco/olive oil in fried chicken for pam. Do you think this could work for the cake for taking down the fat content?

Being an Aussie, I've never heard of PAM before. I did a bit of Googling and found this...

The Nutrition Facts label on PAM's rear leads one to believe that PAM® is fat-free. No fat, no calories, no protein or carbs, no nothing. Nothing, that is, if can pull off the feat of spraying for no more than 1/3 of a second, the listed serving size. Even then you'll end up depositing about 0.27g of PAM, which is, for all intents and purposes, pure fat, onto your cooking surface. That 1/3 second spray contains about 2.4 calories, not zero - the same amount of calories found in 0.27g of any oil. If your action of depressing and releasing PAM's nozzle lasts for a more practical 1 second, you'll lay on about 7 calories, mostly from fat. If you're singing a Christmas jingle while spraying your cookie sheets, you might inadvertently spray several grams of additional fat. Of course, given the 184g of fat in the cookie dough's 1/2 lb butter (2 sticks), it's an iota.

Why am I saying this? Three reasons:
PAM is fat. It's a superlative achievement of marketing that a product made from fat can be advertised to appear fat-free.

If you're going to use fat, why not smear a little heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil, tasty almond oil, or rancid-free peanut oil on your pans, potatoes, and pasta? Why not ditch the grain alcohol and propellant?

I'm curious to know how many people can count to 0.33 seconds.

Pretty much answers everything!

 

[CTDeuce]

great recipe. I'd personally use organic sugar instead of splenda...but looks delicious.

If I can convince my girlfriend's mother to give me her zuchinni bread recipe, I will post that up.

 

[Mulletsoldier]

great recipe. I'd personally use organic sugar instead of splenda...but looks delicious.

If I can convince my girlfriend's mother to give me her zuchinni bread recipe, I will post that up.

My Mother has what us children refer to as, "The Bible". It's this 200 page of book of German-family recipes spanning 80-90 years. It has the most delicious recipes for everything, and I have been trying to poach it to convert them to healthier means. She guards that thing like a junky guards their stash though.

 

[CTDeuce]

haha thats what all the great mother cooks do. It's like an instinctive rule for them.

 

[Rhys26]

Cub

Well done on the recipe mate. I made it last night and for a clean calorie cake it's pretty good. Will definitely be making it more often. If I get around to working out the macros I will post them up.

I only used 1 cup of Splenda and 1 tbs honey.

 

[Manimalia]

i betcha it's good. but in that picture, the thing looks like a living nightmare:aargh:

 

[Cub]

i betcha it's good. but in that picture, the thing looks like a living nightmare:aargh:

Haha! That was the prototype. Now I've perfected it. It rises just a little in the middle and cooks evenly throughout. Good stuff! :food:

 

[aqflames]

love good banana breads and cakes.

 

[Vanguard]

I worked it out approximately with 3 eggs, whole instead of skim milk and 3 medium sized bananas as follows.

P/F/C
64/255/440

Total calories = 4300 :thumbsup:

 

[Cub]

I worked it out approximately with 3 eggs, whole instead of skim milk and 3 medium sized bananas as follows.

P/F/C
64/255/440

Total calories = 4300 :thumbsup:

Nice! I eat it in about five meals with a protein shake. Good for stacking on weight. This thread should be a mandatory link for ectomorphs that complain they can't put on weight.

 

[Inarius]

Still haven't able to make it to the store but it's looking even better now that we have that breakdown!

 

[Rhys26]

I worked it out approximately with 3 eggs, whole instead of skim milk and 3 medium sized bananas as follows.

P/F/C
64/255/440

Total calories = 4300 :thumbsup:

I still have to work out the macros for when I made it but those look a bit high. With skim milk and following Cub's recipe the carbs should be around 300ish and Fat around 130ish.

Will post it when I get a chance to add mine up.

 

[Rhys26]

Ok here it as I mentioned above. I am pretty confident these macros are fairly accurate. Obviously it might vary slightly depending on what brands you use but based on what I have used here it is:

Calories: 2,656
Protein: 56.8
Carbs: 324.6
Fat: 129.9

You could quite easily cut it into 10 pieces. As Cub said I think this would make a nice breakfast with a protein shake Cant wait. Definitely beats Oats as a carb source

 

[jakellpet]

Ok here it as I mentioned above. I am pretty confident these macros are fairly accurate. Obviously it might vary slightly depending on what brands you use but based on what I have used here it is:

Calories: 2,656
Protein: 56.8
Carbs: 324.6
Fat: 129.9

You could quite easily cut it into 10 pieces. As Cub said I think this would make a nice breakfast with a protein shake Cant wait. Definitely beats Oats as a carb source

If you're thinking about carb sources for Anabolic Pump, oats is the best!:food:

 

[Rhys26]

If you're thinking about carb sources for Anabolic Pump, oats is the best!:food:

Yeah I know, haven't started AP yet. Wholemeal flour is still a pretty decent carb source though?

 

[jakellpet]

Yeah I know, haven't started AP yet. Wholemeal flour is still a pretty decent carb source though?

Sure it is - Anabolic Pump meals are best with a 80:20 split of complex:simple carbs (+ protein)

Assuming you use really ripe bananas as the simple carb source - try and work out the ratios in the cake - it could be a really great on-the-run AP meal!:thumbsup:

 

[Rhys26]

Sure it is - Anabolic Pump meals are best with a 80:20 split of complex:simple carbs (+ protein)

Assuming you use really ripe bananas as the simple carb source - try and work out the ratios in the cake - it could be a really great on-the-run AP meal!:thumbsup:

Does it have to be an 80/20 split? Would 100% complex work well?

 

[Vanguard]

I still have to work out the macros for when I made it but those look a bit high. With skim milk and following Cub's recipe the carbs should be around 300ish and Fat around 130ish.

Will post it when I get a chance to add mine up.

Yeah I just looked at that, it seems I had a whole cup of olive oil instead of .5 a cup. So you can minus about 1000 calories of my estimates.

My cake still held together ok and tastes awesome. Plus it has a bit more of a bang than the standard lol.

 

[Rhys26]

Yeah I just looked at that, it seems I had a whole cup of olive oil instead of .5 a cup. So you can minus about 1000 calories of my estimates.

My cake still held together ok and tastes awesome. Plus it has a bit more of a bang than the standard lol.

They taste good dont they

 

[CTDeuce]

Those look pretty awesome

 

[EmAzing]

For substitutes you can always use applesauce for the oil,
Egg whites instead of whole eggs,( i'd use 6 egg whites for this) and I actually make a banana cake using 1 1/2 cups mashed zucchini, one banana and then add banana flavoring...

Banana bread is one of lifes best comfort food.

 

[ari4216]

he'll eat his own poo, but he wont eat lucky charms

 

[CTDeuce]

For substitutes you can always use applesauce for the oil,
Egg whites instead of whole eggs,( i'd use 6 egg whites for this) and I actually make a banana cake using 1 1/2 cups mashed zucchini, one banana and then add banana flavoring...

Banana bread is one of lifes best comfort food.

you should send me THAT recipe!!

 

[dragonfly]

It comes out really moist just like the real stuff, but I wouldn't mind coming up with some sort of icing that was clean too. Maybe some sort of fat free cream cheese variation.

What ?! Cheese? Blasphemy !! I'd go for an antioxidant splurge: dark chocolate topping

 

[EmAzing]

you should send me THAT recipe!!

Will Do!!! I made some just last night.. so so good.

 

[CTDeuce]

Will Do!!! I made some just last night.. so so good.

I'm excited to see that one

 

[EmAzing]

What ?! Cheese? Blasphemy !! I'd go for an antioxidant splurge: dark chocolate topping

ff cream cheese icing-
1/2 pkg ff cream cheese
1 tbsp Smart squeeze spread
1 tsp butter buds
1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp powdered whey low ( sugar sub)

let ccc become room temp, then whip. sugar sub and mix well. add butter buds and smart squeeze( or all butter buds if spread is not available) mix. add vanilla and mix. I add a little bit of ff 1/2 and 1/2 to thin (or milk) down the icing.
I also add a touch of lemon juice if it's not as tangy as I want it.

Tweak the the recipe however fits your taste. the basics are there. hope that helps

 

[EmAzing]

Zuchanana bread

Zuchanana bread

1/4 c smart squeeze or ICBNB fat free spread or butter substitute. * you can use applesauce if making zucchini only bread*
1/2 c whey low sugar substitute or erythritol. ( splenda can make it a bit flat)
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 4c oat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp imitation butter flavoring
1 mashed banana
2 pureed zucchini
1 tsp banana flavoring ( or to taste)

optional 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream together sugar substitute and butter substitute.
add egg whites and mix.
In food processor puree zucchini WELL. add banana. Add flavorings and salt.
mix flour and baking powder and soda in seperate cup

Add to creamed mixture by alternating zucchini/banana puree and flour mix.mixing until smooth, being careful not to over mix.


Spray an 8x8 or even a 9 x 11 pan with non stick spray.
Bake in oven at 350 for 45-55 min. * you may have to cover top with foil around 40 min to prevent over browning.

 

[CTDeuce]

Finally tried out this banana bread. First of all...I found the 180 to by WAYYY too low to leave this in for 40 minutes. I made 5 small versions with the same amount of batter as was used originally and they still weren't done in that time frame.

I upped the temp right at the end and it came out a lot closer. I would definitely go with seperating this into smaller sections and changing the temp around a bit. I went with 350 for 35 minutes and it was perfect on the 2nd run. here is a picture. I added walnuts to the top.