Recipe Time: How to make The Honey-Spelt-Chocolate-Banana Cake

Dear Readers,

I have very recently felt called to start baking things... like Cake (but without the added refined sugars)

I was completely out of practice, having been sugar-free for a couple of years, and very much in need of some guidelines to help me get my groove back and remember again what it was I was meant to do! 
I found myself digging out a bit of a cult classic (in New Zealand) recipe book; the 'Edmonds 'Sure to Rise' Cookery Book'
 (for those interested in knowing my inspiration for this particular *wildly-altered* recipe)

I am so over refined sugars. I needed to come up with something different, and used the 'Banana Cake' recipe on page 44 to get me started. 

I guess I still don't always realise how completely alternative and non-conformist I am, till my husband laughed and pointed out, after the cake came out of the oven, that I had actually only stuck to 4 of the original ingredients, and I had substituted everything else completely and added two extra components. Ha! Yes, that's very me and the way I do things. 

Anyway, without further ado... (for Ann Marie who requested this) 



Cat’s Crazy Delicious Honey-Spelt-Chocolate-Banana Cake:

* 3 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil 
* 2 Eggs
* 4 Ripe Bananas (mashed)
* 3 or 4 Generous Desert spoons of Honey
* 3 teaspoons Fairtrade Cocoa powder
* 2 large cups of Spelt flour (white gives a softer texture and flavour, Wholemeal gives a very full-bodied texture and flavour -- similar to if you’ve added Wheatgerm)

* 1 flat teaspoon Baking Soda (aluminium free)  
* 1 heaped teaspoon of Baking Powder
* Half a cup of Hemp milk (or other plant milk : Rice milk / Coconut / Almond / Soya etc) -- this amount can be adjusted to make the batter the right sort of consistency. 

* 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence (one that is as natural as possible -- without added sugars or artificial sweeteners)
_________________________________

First I place the Coconut Oil in a large saucepan and allow it to gently melt on a low heat (if it is solid) 
I then let that oil cool (it will still be liquid) and add the mashed bananas and vanilla essence. 

Beat the eggs in, and add the cocoa powder. 

Dissolve the baking soda into the plant milk (of your choice) in a separate cup and then stir this well into the mix.

I add the Honey and stir it in completely. *Note: Because honey has a real high water content, it will make a moist cake and you won’t need quite as much plant milk as you would if it was a recipe that included refined sugar in the mixture (white or caster sugar) and you can intuit how much you put into the mix to make the batter the right sort of consistency.  

I then add in the Spelt flour and the baking powder and use a whisk to make sure the only textured lumps are from pieces of banana. 

Line a nice big cake tin with greaseproof paper (or “Deli paper” for US artist-bakers) ... Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius till the oven light goes off -- showing you it’s ready to rock.

Place cake tin in the centre of the oven and bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees C, or 350 Fahrenheit (for my US readers)

This will be a dense, deliciously moist cake that needs no icing. I really like it just like that. The honey means it is subtly sweet, and gently flavoured with banana.  If you want a more indulgent sweet desert , you could of course always try adding your favourite yoghurt or dairy free ice-cream as a topping. 

We were celebrating last night and ate it hot straight from the oven. My goodness it was SO good!  #artistswhobake !  
-- find me on Instagram : https://instagram.com/catathenalouise

Enjoy! 
Catherine Athena xo

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