If you like banana cake, banana bread, or just cake in general (seriously, who doesn’t?!) then you need to try this recipe! This healthy banana cake passes the taste test with all ages getting 10/10 from everyone who has tried it! It’s a staple in our house making the perfect morning tea or afternoon tea snack, dessert & even breakfast (yes it’s so healthy you could eat it for breakfast!). Made with whole foods like bananas and oats, it has a low GI & high fibre content, meaning it will stabilise your blood sugar levels & keep you feeling energetic & full! It has no added refined sugars, no dairy & no white flour like most banana breads & has a good protein content with its walnuts and chia seeds! Its also perfect for kids lunch boxes (if they have a “nut-free” school policy, just make it without the walnuts). Try it and let me know what you think!
Recipe: Healthy Banana Cake
Ingredients:
- 2 cups plain rolled oats
- 4 large ripe (black spots) bananas, peeled
- 4 tbs chia seeds mixed with 12 tbs water
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tbs of shredded coconut*
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbs olive oil (or other oil of choice)
- 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
- 1 cup walnuts*
- Optional – can add a few tablespoons of honey or maple syrup for extra sweetness
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Place chia seeds in a small container & add water. Allow to soak 5 minutes.
- Place 3 bananas, dates, chia, oil & vanilla into a blender (I use a Vitamix but any high speed blender will do). Blend until smooth & creamy.
- Add cinnamon & baking powder and blend. Then add oats, 1/2 cup at a time, blending until smooth.
- Stir in coconut & walnuts.
- Pour into an oiled glass baking dish, top with 1 sliced banana & bake for ~20minutes or until knife comes out clean.
- Remove from oven & allow to cool.
- Can be stored in fridge for unto a week or sliced and frozen.
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Pictured: My Healthy Banana Cake
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Can the healthy banana cake be made in a food processor rather than a high speed vitamizer?
Any idea if I can switch chia for eggs? Sorry if this upsets anyone, but I want a higher protein option for my son ☺️
Hi Alice, you certainly can 🙂 2 eggs work perfectly and you can still keep the chia in there if you want, just don’t add the water 🙂
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Just wondering about for a LFM version with the bananas – would it be ok to use just ripe ones (and also quantity wise per piece) so fructose isn’t too high ?
I made this last night and it’s good. It took quite a lot longer in my oven and as we only have a Nutri-Bullet, rather than a large food processor, I blitzed all of the ingredients and then added them together (which seemed to work fine).
Taste-wise, mine was on the dense/moist side of life, but it’s good — definitely tastes like a healthier, less sweet version of traditional banana bread, while still being yum.
Thanks for the recipe, Bec! Alex x
Yummo is the word in our house tonight ,this banana cake is a big hit with my 3 men 😍
How many calories in each serve of 12 roughly?
Thanks, looks so good!
Hi Jess, thanks so much; yes they are delicious. I don’t calculate the calories sorry however you could put the ingredients into a calorie program and calculate it that way if you wanted 🙂
I calculated the calories in my app, and when divided by 12 it was 298 calories per serve. This would vary with the weight of bananas and dates every time you make it though but not by too much. I found the most calories were added to this with the coconut, oil, walnuts and chia seeds so if you’re tracking and trying to remain in deficit I’d source lower calorie options or just leave them out (except for the oil, from the consistency mine came out though you could probably get away with 1.5tbsp instead of 3. Or you could always cut the loaf into 24 squares rather than 12 slices like I did and eat them in moderation. Very healthy ingredients but they’re all very calorie dense. At the end of the day it all comes down to your own personal health goals 🙂 (PS. I think the recipe is delicious, the walnut and coconut compliments bananas beautifully)
How much does one batch make aprox? 😊
Hi Anna, It depends on the size you make them but I usually get about 12 muffins or 12 slices of cake/bread if I do in a bread tin 🙂
These look amazing.
Can you make some recipes without the oats to make them gluten free please 🙂
Hi Case 🙂 You can make these Gluten free by substituting the oats for a gluten free flour of your choice 🙂
Yum!!!!! I cannot wait to try this <3
About how many servings does this recipe make?
Yes please I wanna know as well !!
Hi Soph, these work by replacing the oats with any GF flour 🙂
YAY! The number of serves depends on what size you want to make them but I usually make 12 slices or 12 muffins 🙂
Can I still make it without a blender?? 😩
Yes you can mix it all in a mixing bowl 🙂
Can I use dried pitted dates instead of medjool dates? If do do I need to soak them in water to soften them?
You definitely can use pitted dates. I’ve made it with pitted dates before and it works perfectly if you chop them and then soak them in water first for about 10minutes. 🙂
Yuuuuuum.
Gobbled this 8 Times now. Mad every time xoxo
YAYYY 😀
I made it without the dates and walnuts. I added 1/2 cup of saltanas instead and added 5 tbs of sr flour. Taste is delicious however rather dense and didn’t rise much.
Sounds Great Jo!
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10/10 taste test and so healthy!!! I’ll take it! This looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!!
xoxo Cailee!
Yay thank you Cailee! So happy you like them!!