I have been struggling with banana management lately. All summer long, Scott and I moved through bananas at a good clip and so they became a fixture on the grocery list. Then fall arrived and without conscious intention, we stopped eating them in an expedient manner. And so, every week or ten days, I was looking at the fruit basket and realizing that there are three or four bananas that had gone unpleasantly brown and needed to be salvaged in some way (this granola was one of my attempts to handle the overripeness).
While I’m currently abstaining from any banana purchases in attempt to stem the tide, a couple weeks back I was the semi-proud owner of three wilted bananas. My sister and her touring partner Rebecca were staying with us at the time, so I thought a slightly sweet, homemade treat for my sweet houseguests would be a good way to use up that sad fruit.
Both Raina and Becca are gluten-free eaters, so my normal banana bread would not do. And so, in a wave of pure genius, I adapted my mom’s old applesauce oat cake to work (as long as you use gluten-free oats, it’s safe for the gluten-avoiders). I cut the recipe in half, swapped mashed bananas for the applesauce, and left off any frosting (in an attempt to keep things not too sweet).
Friends, we ripped through that cake. Between Raina, Becca, and I, we demolished it in just under 24 hours (Scott didn’t get so much as a crumb). It gets sweetness from bananas, raisins, and just a drizzle of real maple syrup (please do use the real stuff). It’s both sturdy and wonderfully buttery tasting. And I will be making it again.
Maple Sweetened Banana Oat Cake
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup real maple syrup
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 cup mashed banana
- 1 cup oat flour*
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/3 cup golden raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 8 x 8 cake pan.
- Cream butter and maple syrup together. Add eggs and mashed banana and beat until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three batches, thoroughly combining after each addition.
- Fold in raisins and pour into prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
*Oat flour is easily made by grinding rolled oats in your blender or food processor. If you make too much, save it and stir it into your next baking project or batch of oatmeal.
Oh Yum.
I have all the ingredients so will be making this tomorrow; with 1 little change tho. I use applesauce in place of the butter.
Thanks 4 the recipe
ColleenB.
Texas
I love any kind of cake or bread with bananas in it. I’m sure the maple syrup makes your even better. Yum! Will be trying this soon even though I’m not on a gluten-free diet.
Thanks for sharing – this sounds good!
I’m game. Questions is will my kids eat it? I usually have a healthy supply of overripe bananas in the freezer, because my kids devour them and then stop and also I can’t resist overripe bananas when they are free at the market.
I can haz banana oat cake!
And, applesauce oat cake too. Maybe even, banana applesauce oat cake.
I have a huge bag of local northern hardy apples. I’ve had my fill of apples with cheese, apples sauteed with bacon and onion, grated apples with yogurt, apple and carrot soup, baked apples, apple and…. (fill in the blank).
I really like cakes that are not iced. Eat while I Twitter.
So delicious! As one of the devour-ers of that cake, I can say that Sara, your kids will probably love it. Didn’t taste like health food at all 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipe Marisa!! And the cake! xo
Thanks for sharing this recipe! It exceeded my expectations: delicious, tender, and moist.
Made this for my daughter’s first birthday cake and the whole family loved it! I used a thick, creamy maple-flavored Greek yogurt as the ‘icing’ and it was a hit! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! So glad to hear it!