A Squeal, A Whoop of Joy!

Four tries. That's how many tries it took for me to come up with a banana cake you won't believe is allergy free!

We had bought combs upon combs of banana so Z and I would have easy accessible snacks. Of course, after a while, these bananas screamed to be used up in something because they were starting to freckle. I had already made the allergy free Jemput Jemput, and on the same day, I had also made two banana cakes, allergy free, but they were not satisfactory at all.

So, I decided to have another go at it, this time, incorporating my baking know how, alternating the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. I decided to stick with coconut milk for the liquid. Rose Beranbaum's recipe for Cordon Rose Banana Cake had used sour cream, and so far, this cake is the BEST banana cake I've ever tasted in my life, and I have tried quite a few banana cake recipes. So I figured I'd best be sticking to a creamy liquid in my recipe.


On my first try, I forgot to include sugar, but I also thought I didn't need it because the bananas were already sweet. When the cake was done, I took it out. I had peeked while it was baking, and when I saw it rise, my heart leapt for joy, but I told myself not to be too excited because it could still turn out to be a flop. So, I took it out when it was done, and let it cool in the pan on the cooling rack before I inverted it and took it out. While it was cooling, I cleaned the kitchen. I tried hard to ignore it, for fear of facing yet another disappointment of a hard rock and untasty cake after so much work of deciding a measured amount of flour and other ingredients and writing them down on one of my recycled grocery lists paper.

But I finally could not ignore the cake any longer, and I gingerly inverted it. I couldn't help myself, so I lightly pressed it. It sprung back. My heart started to beat faster. I grabbed a knife, and started slicing. It was soft. My heart felt lighter. I took one cut piece. It felt fluffy and tender. My heart probably grew wings. I put the piece in my mouth. Heaven! My heart leapt right out along with my voice,

"Kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come !!!!!!!"

They were all upstairs playing 'Sultan's kids'. They bounded down the stairs. One by one, they popped a piece of banana cake and nodded their approval. I squealed. Now I know how Alexander Graham Bell felt.

The first cake lacked sugar, and at first it tasted bland, but after a while, you could taste the banana. I decided to have a second go though, this time, adding 5 tablespoons sugar.

Meanwhile, Zeyoudee had his first cake, and the rest of us couldn't keep our hands off the cake, and before I knew it, there was no more First Banana Cake left. The second try was baking in the oven, and I peeked again. It rose. Alhamdulillah!

When it was done, cooled and all, well, maybe not all the way through, but I couldn't wait anymore, I cut it. It was gummy. I felt a tad disappointed, blaming the sugar, but after a while I realized that it was underbaked. I had taken it out too soon. So I still consider it a success, allahu akbar!

Personally I prefer the sugarless one though. It is healthier. So I have cut down the sugar to only 3 tablespoons in this recipe.

Zeyoudee's Banana Cake

1 C blended banana
1/2 C coconut milk
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 C brown rice flour
1/4 C sweet potato starch
1/4 C buckwheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 egg replacers (3 tsp Egg Replacer + 4 tbs warm water)
2 tsp oil

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Lightly oil an 8 inch round cake pan, bottom and sides, and line the bottom with parchment paper, and lightly oil the top side of the parchment paper too. Sprinkle some brown rice flour, and shake the pan to distribute the flour across the greased bottom and sides of the pan, and dump out the excess.

1. Combine blended bananas, egg replacers, sugar, beat till combined, then add oil and beat again
2. Meanwhile, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl and stir to distribute them evenly
3. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternating with coconut milk, meaning, you first add a couple spoonfuls of the dry mix to the banana-egg mix and beat it till combined. Then you add 1/3 -1/2 of the coconut milk and beat till combined. Then add the dry mix again and keep alternating, but make sure you end with the dry mix. Here, on Chef Talk, the science behind this alternating method of mixing is explained.
4. Bake in 8 in cake pan (greased) for 20-25 minutes or till it springs back when lightly pressed
5. Cool cake in pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes
6. Slide knife around the edges to loosen the cake, invert it onto the rack and slide the pan off. Cool cake completely on the rack.

Cook's Notes:

• I used Ener G egg replacers. The directions for use is on the box.



• Make sure you blend the banana in a blender till smooth. This is so you get a smooth consistency for the cake. Mashing the banana will not result in a smoothly textured cake.



• Instead of using butter or Baker's Joy spray to grease the pan, I suggested using oil, to make this truly dairy free.

My next try is ... carrot cake, or apple cake, inshaallah.