I’ve come a long way since 2008.
Here’s what I used to think about adapting recipes to make them healthier: I thought that if I simply switched white flour for whole wheat, white sugar with sucanat or honey, and vegetable oil with coconut oil or butter – I was healthifying a recipe. So way back in 2008, I did just that. I took my regular recipe for Banana Cake and switched out all the bad for the good and shared the recipe with you here. I even called it “Healthy Treat for Today: Banana Cake.”
I really thought the changes I’d made had created a healthy treat.
In my defense, I suppose the changes I’d made did make the cake healthy-er. Getting rid of empty ingredients and bad fats and replacing them with ingredients our bodies can utilize does make a recipe healthier. But I stop short now of calling a treat healthy if it still has loads of sugar in it.
This goes to show that we always have room to grow and learn, right? Makes me wonder what I’ll write a year from now after I learn more!
In the meantime, I’ve re-healthified what I thought was a healthy cake. Even with this newest version of Banana Cake, I still maintain that it is a treat and that other foods provide more of a nutritional punch than this. Still – with the sugar cut way down and with the ingredients all being foods our bodies recognize and can utilize – do feel free to eat this for breakfast if you like. ;)
Low Sugar Banana Cake
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup sucanat or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk or buttermilk
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
- Mash bananas in a separate bowl.
- Make a well in the center of dry ingredients.
- Pour in mashed bananas and all other ingredients.
- Stir well (or beat with hand mixer).
- Pour into a greased 9×9 inch pan.
- Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting with the Cream Cheese Frosting below.
I prefer to make Cream Cheese Frosting with Stevia now so that it has no sugar in it. My boys prefer it if I add just a little bit of maple syrup.
Stevia Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste (I use 2 droppers full)
Whip ingredients together until smooth. Spread over cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator.
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces softened cream cheese
¼ cup softened butter
3-4 Tablespoons real maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
With a hand mixer (or in your blender), whip together all ingredients until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.
Share something you’ve learned recently that has changed your mind about what makes a recipe “healthy.”
