Banana Cake with Berries (gluten, nut, soy, dairy and cane sugar free)

Happy Easter!

Need a recipe for Easter morning or dessert? This recipe makes great use of over-ripe bananas. The healthy cake can even be made the night before for a better, sweeter flavor!

A little coconut flour goes a long way. It certainly doesn't behave like other flours but I love what it does when combined with pumpkin or banana. I've subscribed to Nutiva brand coconut flour on amazon and that way I never run out!

For a fluffier and lighter variation on the cake: Try separating the yolks from the egg whites and beating the egg whites until fluffy with the cream of tartar. Combine remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Then spoon egg whites in rest of batter and bake.

If you're looking for a vegan banana cake recipe, try the Chai-spiced Banana Breakfast Cake here on the blog. It's super delicious and egg-free!

This recipe was inspired by Coconut Banana Breakfast Cake in Nourishing Meals: Healthy Gluten-Free Recipes for the Whole Family, one of my favorite cookbooks.

Banana Cake with Berries
3/4 cup coconut flour (I used Nutiva brand)
2 TB flaxseeds
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda              > instead of using tartar and baking soda, try 2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (optional and may substitute 1 tsp nutmeg if avoiding cinnamon but want spice)

1 TB vanilla extract
8 eggs
4 very ripe bananas
3 TB coconut oil (melted)

Berries and Whipped Coconut Cream to serve (optional)
*For sweeter variation, add 3-4 TB maple syrup or other liquid sweetener to batter.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9x13" pan or two round cake pans or muffin pan.
2. Combine first six ingredients in mixing bowl. Mash bananas and combine remaining four ingredients in separate mixing bowl.
3. Combine batters and pour into pans. Bake 30-40 minutes or until the middle of the cake is no longer jiggly.
Enjoy!

And Happy Easter to you all! God's not dead! Hallelujah!

Red Velvet Cake Smoothie (vegan, dairy and gluten free)

Packed with antioxidant powerhouses - beets, cocoa, and raspberries. This smoothie will rock your socks. And it's smoother than any charming Italian.

 

 

If you've tried my Carrot Cake Smoothie (comes with rave reviews) or even my Green Vanilla Smoothie, then you'll love this sweet vegetable and fruit smoothie.

Did you know my father's side of my family claims they brought back the recipe for red velvet cake from Italy? We're not even Italian! They just lived there a couple years. So this recipe is sort of a piece of my heritage, just with my "blended" spin on it!

Red Velvet Cake Smoothie
1 1/4 cup milk of choice (plain or vanilla but unsweetened - I used almond)
2 beets, steamed and peeked
1 cup raspberries
1/2 banana
3-4 TB cocoa powder (use raw cacao for even greater antioxidants)
2 Dates
1 big scoop nut butter + vanilla extract or 1 scoop vanilla protein powder of choice

1. Blend all ingredients in high-speed blender until completely incorporated.

Have you ever noticed how paper straws, although fantastically beautiful, are really quite awful to sip out of for a long time (longer than five minutes)? They get all soggy and limp. It affects the experience, going from drinking delicious smoothie to slobbering all over wet paper to slurp up a miniscule amount of smoothie (the straws now boasting a slight wet-cement flavor).

And they are almost worth it because they are so darn cute. Almost...

I saw these Stainless Steel Drink Straws (4)  on sale for $5.89 (+$2.99 shipping). They have pretty good reviews and come with a straw cleaner (looks similar to a pipe cleaner). I ordered them for my new kitchen! So excited! I'll let you know how well they work!

Question of the Day:
Have you ever used a paper straw? Was the cuteness worth the limp, ineffective, straw?

Week of Love: Chocolate Fig Pudding

Oh my figgy darling!

The fig was well-known in ancient times as an aphrodisiac and was thought to encourage fertility. And no wonder... when broken, the soft, plump skin erupts into a million edible little seeds.Their rich colors offer a sweet taste and an enticing texture.

Figs are a good source of Vitamins A, B6, K, and E and are rich in calcium, iron, manganese, and potassium. These plump fruits are also a good source of fiber.

Fiber isn't a word usually associated with Sexy but if we are being blunt, neither is bloated. Fiber can improve performance (in more arenas than you think *wink wink*) and help relieve bloating.

Before we get to the recipe, don't forget to enter the Massage Lotion Bar Giveaway!

Chocolate Fig Pudding
1/2 banana (I used frozen)
3 Tb cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup non-dairy milk of choice
1 tsp vanilla extract or beans from 1/3 vanilla bean
Pinch of Salt
16 dried figs

1. Cut off fig stems if needed. Soak figs in milk (in fridge if you want cold pudding) for one hour or up to overnight.
2. Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender. Serve, refridgerate (or freeze in popsicle mold).
3. Enjoy!

Chai Spiced Banana Breakfast Cake

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This week has been a whirlwind. Big Blue Eyes got sick - Witty Husband and I working hard to make her feel better and not get sick ourselves, and we're preparing for a memorial this weekend. To top it all off, I was finishing a slideshow for the memorial and my computer got sick... Yeah, that's right. A virus. Then I messed up lunch and dinner... Originally this post was about quinoa but I screwed that up. I mean, come on, who messes up quinoa? I do, apparently.... oh and I broke my favorite photographing dish this week. Boo.

Finally I dropped everything and I called my momma. (Because we all need a shoulder to cry on once in a while).

"Hi Mom. How are you?" Trying not to whimper.

Her reply, "Good. How are you?"

Then I just broke down, "I had an awful day. I need a pep talk."

...And thank the Lord for my Mom! It feels so good to be able to call her whenever and have her listen, sympathize, and then remind and redirect. And that's exactly what I needed. I could have done it myself but sometimes it helps to vent all that bad energy out to someone who can help redirect us.

Some advice from my mom to you all - "You're brilliant!"

You're Brilliant! All of you... so beautifully and brilliantly made by your Creator.

Thank the Lord that He created Mommas! Because that was brilliant.

So after a full day of hair-pulling and heart-clenching, my computer is fine. No files were damaged. Thankfully I caught it early otherwise this blog might be going post-less for a long, long time.

Finally for all those waiting, here is the recipe... Thank the Lord again for Moms and this delicious cake after an awful, terrible, horrible no-good day.

Big Blue Eyes and I ate half of this last night then danced all over. It was a wonderful, brilliant, and beautiful end to our otherwise terrible day.

This Chai Spiced Banana Breakfast Cake is dense - just the way I like banana bread. It is completely sweetened with bananas and is wonderful with a spread of coconut oil or butter of your choice. It's gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free, and soy-free along with being vegan!

A reader asked me recently about baking without eggs. I love farm fresh eggs but I understand that some people choose not to eat them and some actually can't. In this delicious breakfast cake, we use bananas and flaxseeds so there is no need for eggs. I found a great chart on substitutes for egg-less baking on pinterest if you are interested in baking more without eggs. We also have a few other egg-less baked good recipes here on Sweet Roots, inluding Pecan Gingersnaps and Mini Spiced Pumpkin Whoopies.

And this cake ends our Chai Journey Week. If you missed out, check out Chai Tea Oatmeal and Pumpkin Cookies with Chai Glaze from Dandelions on the Wall and Chai Spiced Espresso from Alisa's Garden. Here on Sweet Roots, we posted chai spiced elderberry cobbler and pumpkin chai lattes.

For the spices, you can choose to add whichever you like. I included most of the spices from my chai concentrate. Cardamom is super strong so I use just a pinch. Aside from the spices, this cake is only seven ingredients! And it's super easy to make.

I hope this brightens your day as much as it did mine!

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Chai Spiced Breakfast Cake
3 ripe bananas
1/4 c boiling water
3 Tb ground flaxseeds

1/4 cup millet flour
3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp freshly ground clove
1/4 tsp ginger
Pinch of Cardamom

1. Grind flaxseeds. Combine with boiling water, whisking to prevent clumps.
2. Mash bananas and combine with flaxseeds.
3. Combine dry ingredients in seperate bowl. Then combine wet into the dry ingredients.
4. Bake in a 350 preheated oven in a greased 8" cake pan for 40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes then invert onto a plate and serve.

Additional Add-Ins
Chocolate Chips or chopped chocolate
Craisins
Chopped Nuts or Dates

Would be great with Creamy Vanilla Date Frosting!