Healthy Banana Sponge Cake-Loaf

Just a quick post this week, mainly because I haven't been feeling well. I'm still feeling a little under the weather now, but hopefully next week I can start afresh without feeling all queasy and ill. Anyhow, work's been pretty slow this week, so I've had time to think of what to bake this coming weekend. If only I had more bananas, I'd make another round of this banana cake/loaf. I've been enjoying slices of it over the past week, because it's been keeping well in the fridge, and I particularly enjoy it with my hot cuppa' milo in the morning.

I've also been contemplating what to call this - a banana cake or a banana bread or a banana loaf? I have no idea what's the real difference between all of them actually - I would think the main difference lies in the crumb and the method of making, followed by what kind of pan you actually place the batter in. So if that's the case, then my creation should most probably be called a banana cake-loaf since a banana bread merely uses the muffin method.

The original recipe was a normal banana sponge cake recipe, with a sponge cake method of whisking whole eggs to ribbon stage. I changed the recipe from an 8-inch cake into a loaf pan and mini cupcakes, and swapped out most of the white flour to various flours I had on hand. I also switched the method from whisking eggs (which I still suck at) to a basic butter and sugar creaming method. Main reason being I don't like using oil and I suck at whipping eggs to ribbon stage and I desperately wanted my banana cake craving to be satisfied.

And because I wanted it to be no-fail, I went along with a pretty popular recipe on the local blogosphere. You would think that no-fail means following the recipe to a T, but oh no that's not how I work. I merely used the recipe for its proportions because honestly, I didn't want to start from basic ratios and play around with the quantities until I got a right one, which is why I'm giving credit to the original source below, even though you will later see how much I massacred it. Being in the profession that I am, I think very highly of copyrights and intellectual property, which is perhaps why I find it very repugnant that some people have the gall to post recipes which are exact copies or very similar to famous recipes without giving proper accreditation. Even if you were merely inspired by a particular recipe, I do think it's important to give credit when it's due, because after all, you were inspired by that recipe to come up with something of your own! And imagine how much hard work that particular person had to put in, trying failures after failures, just to come up with those golden proportions. Just my two cents really - there are far better posts on the internet on recipe accreditation and copyrighting your recipes (which is a misnomer really, but that's a story for another day).

Original recipe

Adapted from Wen who adapted it from Richard Goh's baking class

Makes an 8" round cake

150g eggs, room temperature
130g sugar 

200g banana, mashed

150g cake flour (or top flour)

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda 

100g vegetable oil 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Grease & line a 8" round tin with paper.
3. Sieve flour, baking powder & soda together. Sieve twice & set aside.
4. Whisk eggs, sugar & banana at maximum speed until you reach the thick ribbon stage, approximately 10-15 minutes. 
5. Fold in the dry ingredients until all traces disappear. 
6. Add in oil and fold well until the batter is shiny and flawy. 
7. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until golden brown. 

Janine's Banana Cake-Loaf

Makes a 6" round cake or 15cm loaf and a couple cupcakes 

50g unsalted butter 

¼ tsp sea salt

90g egg 

80g sugar (40g white and 40g brown) 

120g banana, mashed

100g all purpose flour* 

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp vanilla extract

20g milk 

* I used 45g AP flour, 10g oatmeal flour, 15g almond meal, 15g millet flour and 15g sorghum flour. 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Sieve the various flours, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together. Set aside.
3. Cream butter until softened. Add in the sugars and cream until fluffy. Add in the eggs and beat well, for about 1 minute or until mixture does not appear too curdled. 
4. Next, add in the mashed banana and mix well. 
5. Sieve in half of the dry ingredients, beating until all traces of flour disappear. Add in half of the milk and mix well. Repeat with a quarter of the dry ingredients and the remaining half of the milk, and end with the last quarter of the dry ingredients. You should get a smooth cake batter at this stage.
6. If baking as a round cake, bake for about 30-35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. If baking as cupcakes/muffins, bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops turn golden brown. Let cool for about 15 minutes on wire racks before serving. The cake tastes best the next day, after it is fully cooled and the cake has had time to develop its rich banana flavor. 

Janine's jots: 

• Taste: I usually use bananas which are very ripe and have many many black spots. I find that those types of bananas (not sure of the name) make the nicest tasting cakes. Do not use the Del Monte type of bananas because the taste just isn't as rich. Also, bananas and cinnamon go extremely well together. If you like a spicier cake (like I do), feel free to up the cinnamon to ½ tsp and add a tiny pinch of nutmeg. The result is exquisite!
• Texture: Because half of the flour has been replaced with flour which does not produce any gluten, you can actually mix the batter rather vigorously without fear of a dense cake forming because there just isn't enough gluten to be formed with the 45g of all-purpose flour. 
• Modifications: I think I've made enough modifications to the original recipe already! ;p 
• Storage: Because the cake contains banana, it only stores well for a day at room temperature in our tropical climate. After that, the cake will feel a little sticky. I would advise keeping the cake in the fridge, and it will taste good for at least a week. If you prefer, give the cake a quick 5s zap in the microwave and it will be slightly warm, perfect with a cup of tea in the morning :]
• Would I make this again?: I have since made this cake for than a couple of times - in fact, this is my go-to recipe whenever I have overripe bananas! Do check out my follow-up post on yet another modification I made to the recipe!

I think this is perhaps one of my shortest posts to date, knowing how long-winded I am. Have a great weekend y'all! :] I'm looking forward to a bread-making weekend (hopefully work doesn't intrude)!