This Healthy Banana Cake is made with wholesome ingredients making it better for you! Moist, delicious and easy to make! I topped this cake with a not-so-healthy Cream Cheese Frosting (it balances out, right?) but feel free to top it with your favourite healthy frosting!
Over-ripe bananas are a happy occurence around here! They mean a lovely dessert is going to be in the works and that is always good news! Banana treats are popular around here.
Easy Banana Bread, Healthy Banana Nut Waffles, and Healthy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins are only a few of the lovely treats that have been made with those bananas! Just type “Banana” in the search on my site and you will see there are plenty of ways we like to put them to use!
This Healthy Banana Cake is up there with our favourites! Its moist and tender, and full of that delicious banana flavour we adore in our treats! So yummy! My mouth is watering as I type this and I am thinking about grabbing another slice right now..
Okay, it happened, I have another slice in hand!
Now that I am happy and content, let’s talk about how easy this cake is to make!
Making Healthy Banana Cake
Ingredients you’ll need:
Truly easy to do! To make this cake you will need:
- bananas
- eggs
- sugar (I use coconut but you can use white sugar too)
- Greek yogurt
- olive oil
- milk
- vanilla extract
- flour (whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose)
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cinnamon
- salt
You can see there is not butter in this cake. Its kept moist by two different ingredients: Greek yogurt and olive oil. These are much healthier options that add nutrients and protein to the cake as well!
I also swap in healthier ingredients through my use of sugar (coconut) and flour (whole wheat pastry flour).
Whole wheat vs whole wheat pastry flour
Is there a difference between these two? Yes! There is. Whole wheat pastry flour is more finely ground and suited to baked goods. It produces a softer cake and is a good substitution for regular white all purpose flour.
Can I just substitute regular whole wheat flour in this recipe? I don’t recommend it. Whole wheat flour is coarser and, in my opinion, doesn’t produce a fluffy cake. its better used in a bread recipe, not a tender cake. I would stick with all-purpose flour if you can’t get your hands on whole wheat pastry flour.
Easy steps for a delicious cake
To start, I mash my bananas and then add them to my stand mixer. They get blended up with eggs and sugar first. Then I add the other wet ingredients. Greek yogurt, olive oil, milk and vanilla extract get blended in until everything is well combined.
Once the wet ingredients are good and ready, I mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Then I slowly add it to the wet ingredients until it is all combined into a nice smooth batter.
Transfer the batter to a parchment lined baking pan. I use an 8×8 inch square pan but you can also use a round cake pan. Then it is baked for 25-30 minutes in a preheated oven at 350F.
Icing the Healthy Banana Cake
I top my banana cake with cream cheese frosting. It is not healthy, so if you are set on keeping this as healthy as possible, I just want to make that clear. For me, banana cake is SO MUCH BETTER with cream cheese frosting and so there is no substitution that is better for me. I have to be true to the flavours and so I figure, it all balances out. As healthy as the cake is, it is still a cake and I am eating it as a treat so, meh. Let me eat my frosting too!
If you have found a healthy frosting that you love, feel free to swap that in.
Alternatively, you can eat the cake as is or top it with peanut butter!
Hope you love this cake as much as I do!
Bon appetit!
-Cathy
You may also like:
Healthy Strawberry Banana Muffins
Chocolate Banana Baked Oatmeal
Healthy Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 3 bananas ripe, mashed
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar (can sub white sugar)
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 250 g cream cheese (1 brick or 8oz)
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 2 cups icing sugar (confectioners or powdered sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment affixed, mix the bananas, eggs, and sugar until combined. Add the oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract and milk and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled top with the cream cheese icing (recipe below) or your favourite icing and serve.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat to combine. Add the milk and icing sugar and mix until everything is combined and smooth. If needed, add a little more milk to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake using an offset spatula.
