Banana Cinnamon Cake / Bread
Ah, spring time! The snow has almost completely melted off the balcony. I’ve put away my gloves and woolen hats. (Scarves are still out – it’s not summer yet!) And the best part is the birds are finally showing up! There are two beautiful exotic blue jays that have been visiting the trees outside my home. I’ve been living in a concrete jungle till recently so any bird that isn’t a pigeon, sparrow or crow, in my opinion, is exotic. Anyhow, these blue jays keep perching a little too far for my camera to capture but I’m hatching a plan that involves bird seeds, a feeder, my balcony and my every so stealthy tipy-toe-close-to-the-window move. I really hope I can share a picture with you soon.
With spring time comes this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free event! Maggie from She Let Them Eat Cake came up with this month’s yummy theme of ‘Springtime Brunches’.
When I think of brunch, I think of lazy mornings where I get to stay in my PJs an hour or so longer than I normally do. Generally it starts with drinking a cup of hot tea while I tinker around the house catching up on emails, surfing the web or reading a magazine. Then it proceeds to the second phase where I meander through my kitchen thinking of the perfect way to celebrate this delicious lazy day. After that things kick up a notch with me beating, mixing, whipping, frying, baking, stirring, flipping or doing some combination of the one hundred ways to work out in the kitchen! At the end of all that is the BEST part of brunch – sitting down at the table to a mouthwatering meal and wonderful company.
This banana cinnamon cake is really quite a treat. It’s slightly sweet and gives you the feeling of eating a light dessert – which is always fun to do in the morning! I love eating it as slices, but you can use the same recipe to make muffins. Just remember to reduce the bake time if you do make muffins. Another variation that is fun is to mix in some chopped walnuts into the batter.
Enjoy!
Banana Cinnamon Cake
Makes: 1 loaf (9 inches x 5 inches)
Ready in: 1 hr (20 min prep + 40 min bake)
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 ripe bananas (the riper the better!)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the baking pan with a pad of butter.
2. Beat the eggs.
3. Melt butter in microwave (30 secs). If your butter is out and warm, you can skip this step.
4. Using a food processor, mash the bananas. You can also do this (and the next step) by hand, just make sure you mix it well.
5. Add the almond flour, butter, 1/2 cup honey, baking soda, vanilla essence and eggs. Mix till it becomes a smooth and thick paste.
6. Mix the remaining 1/4 cup honey with the cinnamon over medium high heat.
7. Pour half of batter into buttered bread / loaf pan. Make sure you spread the batter evenly on the base of the pan. One way of spreading the batter is by shaking the pan quickly side to side. Spread a layer of half the honey – cinnamon mixture over this.
8. Pour half of the remaining batter into the pan.
9. Spread another layer of the remaining honey – cinnamon mixture on top.
10. Pour the remaining batter on top.
11. Bake in oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the top springs back when touched or a tooth pick comes out clean. (Check periodically after 30 mins)
This post has been linked to: Let’s Do Brunch, Just Another Meatless Monday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Delicious Dishes, Easter Meal Ideas, Hearth And Soul Hop, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Full Plate Thursday
We're Raj and Sonia - two friends passionate about healthy cooking. We focus on gluten-free, refined sugar-free and vegetarian recipes. Being engineers - we've broken down the recipes into simple steps EACH with a picture - this way you can easily recreate the recipe in your kitchen (or tell us how to do things better). 
this looks DELIGHTFUL!
It really is! I actually made this last week so don’t have any more in the house.. but I’m eyeing the two bananas that are currently on my counter — I have a feeling I’m going to be baking soon.
i have found some of my local grocery store have been marking down the “browning” bananas to just about 20-30 less than the “regular” ones! a great way to save money and not have to wait for them to ripen!
That’s a great tip!
That looks really good. I’ve never tried almond flour, will give it a try soon. I usually throw extra bananas in the freezer and use them in smoothies or banana bread at a later time.
Hi Suchitra! Almond flour makes the bread more moist than normal wheat flour. I’ve like two sources of almond flour – Bob’s Red Mill and Honeyville (http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/blanchedalmondflour5lb.aspx). I prefer Honeyville because it’s ground a little finer than Bob’s… but Bob’s is found in most grocery stores – so that’s a good one to start with!
Hi Raj,
This is a beautiful bread. The texture of the bread is just perfect and looks so moist. I would love the flavor of the bread. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week! Have a wonderful week end!
Hi Miz. The bread really is moist probably because almond flour has lots of oils which keep it moist while baking.
I loe the sound of this recipe – bananas and cinnamon are a super combination, and I love using almond flour. Even though my family can eat gluten, I just love it for baking. Your photos are fantastic too. Thank you for sharing this recipe with The Hearth and Soul blog hop, and also with Let’s Do Brunch.
You’re welcome April! I love sharing in your blog hops. Hope you try this recipe out.. it really is delicious.
What a delicious gfree bread! I like how you layered the batter with the cinnamon mixture. Thanks for sharing this recipe with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
BTW, I am also a gfree. I am glad to find another source of gfree inspiration and am your latest follower.
I love finding kindred food spirits! Thanks for stopping by Aleah – I’m following you on twitter now – looking forward to the great conversations.
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This looks so good! Any suggestions for banana subs? I can’t have bananas anymore.
Applesauce maybe? Or pumpkin puree? How much? I also can’t have a lot of eggs so any suggestions for that? Maybe this wouldn’t work but this looks too good of an idea to not try some form of it?
This looks delish! I’ll have to try this! But can I use something other then almond flour because of nut allergies?
Hi Rhiannon! You can try using coconut flour instead of almond flour. However the ingredient proportions will probably have to change. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of the liquids.. so you’ll probably have to increase how many eggs you include. (maybe 5 eggs for about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of coconut flour)
I saw this link over at the GAHIGF event and had to check it out. I just happen to have a bunch of ripe bananas and I will be trying this out!
Hi Raj,
Could you use regular flour instead almond flower?
Thanks,
Cp
You can definitely use regular flour instead of almond flour. I’m gluten-free so I haven’t tried that myself, but I believe you’ll probably have to increase the amount of butter and perhaps reduce the amount of flour. Almond flour has a lot of naturally occurring oils and is a little denser than regular flour.