Six Tastes Kitchen

Gluten-free/Vegetarian
One of my resolutions this year is to cut down on my sugar intake. It is easier said, especially for someone like me who developed sweet tooth later in life when my metabolism starts to slow down. But, there’s a way and I know that!

It just takes a little amount of self-control to eat in moderation. Plus, I need to get busy in the kitchen to create and test new recipes while juggling with work and everything else in life.

Since I love banana muffin which is my go-to coffee match, I decided to make over this recipe and change most ingredients using healthier substitutes.

I wanted to use a healthier kind of flour. I didn’t know what to expect. I felt a little intimidated but excited at the same time. I followed the regular Banana Muffin recipe but made some changes or substitutions on the ingredients such as:

• I used coconut flour (gluten-free) instead of all-purpose flour. This flour is more aromatic and dense. Just like the regular banana muffin recipe, this calls for 2 cups of flour.
• Instead of regular butter, I used almond butter.
• I increased the amount of banana from I cup to 2 cups.
• Cut down the amount of sugar and used 1 cup of honey and only ½ cup of sugar.

After mixing everything in a bowl, I noticed the batter was too thick and dense. I read the instructions on the coconut flour package – I should have done this first before I started the process. I got so excited and hurried into baking right away without reading the package. Lesson learned: when using new product for the first time, make sure to read the label first!!!

Instead of using 2 cups of coconut flour I should have only used 50% (1 cup) as per  package advice and 1 cup of all-purpose flour. But it was just an advice! Instead of starting over, I just adjusted the amount of ingredients. How?

I kept the batter that I already prepared. Since it was too thick, I added ¼ cup sunflower oil to loosen up the texture. I also adjusted the baking time and they are all shown in the recipe below.

With the composition of the ingredients, I can consider this cake gluten-free since no ingredients with wheat were used. This cake is also good for semi-vegetarian and lacto-ovo vegetarian diets.

BANANA COCONUT BUNDT CAKE
Yield: 8-12 Servings/Slices

You need —
* Coconut flour – 2 cups
[Per package advice: 1 cup + regular flour – 1 cup]
* Baking soda – 1 tsp
* Salt – ½ tsp
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* Banana – 2 cups mashed
* Almond butter – ½ cup
* Honey – 1 cup
* Sugar – ½ cup
* Eggs – 2 beaten
* Milk – 1/3 cup
* Sunflower/canola oil – ¼ cup (only when using 2 cups of coconut flour)
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* Pecan, chopped – ¼ cup (optional)
* Chocolate chips – ¼ cup (optional)

To prepare —
1. Preheat oven to 350 0F.
2. Grease bundt pan.
3. Blend together all wet ingredients: banana, butter, honey, sugar, eggs, and milk.
4. In separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and salt. Add this to the banana mixture.
5. Stir in chopped nuts and chocolate chips.
6. Pour the batter in the bundt pan.
7. Bake for 40 minutes then do a toothpick test – insert a toothpick in the cake when it comes out clean, it’s done.
8. If toothpick is still wet, turn the oven temperature to 325 0F and bake for another 15 minutes. Check and do a toothpick test again. Keep doing this until toothpick comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Frosting
* Peanut butter – ¼ cup
* Powdered sugar – ¼ cup or as needed
* Milk – 4 tbsp. or as needed

Combine peanut butter and 1 tbsp. (to start) powdered sugar with a whisk until smooth. Start adding milk 2 tbsp. at a time. Continue to add powdered sugar as needed to increase texture. Add more milk to turn it into a glaze.