During my stint of being overly obsessed with the concept of a healthy diet and its effect on the microbiome of each individual person, as well as the nagging feeling that I might be gluten intolerant (turns out I’m not, it’s just that consuming large quantities of pasta everyday will inevitably make your stomach hate you for a while), I discovered the perfect, light, and flavour packed recipe for gluten-free walnut banana cake bars, which can also easily be made vegan! Credits for this recipe go to Winnie L. Kison (@winniesbalance), a food blogger on Instagram who you should definitely check out for more if you liked this recipe!
Prep time & cooking time: 1 hr 15 mins
Portions: 16 bars
Ingredients for cake:
- 3 extra-ripe bananas
- 2 eggs (for vegan option, replace with the equal amount of vegan egg alternatives)
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- ½ cup crushed walnuts and a few more for toppings
Ingredients for maple cream cheese frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese (for vegan option, replace with vegan plant-based cream cheese)
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond milk
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 175 C and prepare an 8 x 8 baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mash together your bananas until soft and add in the eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Don’t worry if this looks like the furthest thing from cake batter, we’re not done yet!
- Add in your almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and pinch of sea salt. Gently mix and then slowly fold in your crushed walnuts.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking tray and bake for about 28-30 minutes or check by inserting a toothpick into the centre of your cake to see if it comes out clean
- Allow the cake to cool for at least 10 minutes. While it cools, mix together your cream cheese, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract and almond milk to make the cream cheese frosting
- Once everything is cool, spread the frosting over your cake and decorate with the desired toppings (I went for walnuts and coconut flakes) then cut into 16 bars.
I was never a fan of what I classified as ‘healthy’ desserts, but I would be lying if I said this wasn’t my favourite recipe to make when I’m craving something more luxurious than banana bread but less hassle than making an entire cake. This is the one guys, trust me.