Wholesome Goodness

It was a yellow sunny afternoon when I baked this loaf of wholemeal banana cake. I almost gave the recipe a miss when I was flipping through a cookbook the other day. There are so many banana cake recipes around that I couldn't help but skip the pages whenever I stumble upon yet another banana cake recipe in a book :')

I was glad that I gave this recipe a second look. I was immediately sold after I went through the ingredient list. What goes into this banana cake seems to promise a loaf loaded with wholesome goodness for our breakfast the next morning.


The amount of butter used for this loaf is relatively little compared to some other recipes which although guarantee deliciously moist and gorgeous looking banana cakes, but, they never failed to put me off with the large amount of fat and sugar that went in there. For this cake, the amount of sugar used is so little that I actually doubt that my kids would even what to take a bite. However, just one slice of this freshly baked cake cleared my doubts right away. The cake got its sweetness mainly from the bananas and the wholemeal flour added a very interesting nutty texture to it. The downside of it...it also made the cake rather crumbly. I wouldn't say the crumbs were extra moist as I suspect the wholemeal flour tends to dry things up a little. Fortunately the bananas worked wonders by providing just the right amount of moisture. Having said that, the cake still tasted delicious when left over night. It certainly was a fuss free way to add some whole grains to my kids' diet. I warmed the last slice in my oven before I enjoyed it over a cup of afternoon tea. It tasted as good as fresh out of oven. This is the kind of cake that you would never feel guilty if you couldn't help but reach out for another slice again and again!


Wholemeal Banana Cake

Ingredients

70g unsalted butter
30g brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
200g mashed banana (2 large bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90g wholemeal flour
90g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

topping:
some sliced banana
some granulated sugar
some cinnamon powder (I omitted this)

Method:

1. Grease the sides of a 3" x 7" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Sift together plain flour, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.
2. Pre-heat oven to 180 degC.
3. With an electric mixer, whisk butter and sugar at low speed till the mixture turns pale and fluffy.
4. Dribble in beaten egg while whisking at low speed. (Add a little flour to the mixture if it appears to curdle.)
5. Stir in mashed banana and vanilla extract with a spatula.
6. Fold in wholemeal flour and the flour mixture and mix with spatula.
7. Spoon mixture into prepared pan, smooth surface with spatula.
8. Arrange banana slices on top and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon powder.
9. Bake for 45 mins until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Cover the top with foil if it start to get overly brown before the baking time is up.) Stand cake in pan for 5 minutes, unmold and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
   Recipe adapted from: Everyday Treats, 日尝甜品