Friday, November 4, 2011

A healthy lunch box treat.

Now that the price of bananas is returning to normal after the price hike that came from the Queensland floods it is nice to be able to enjoy the humble banana again.
Banana bread is a popular treat in lunchboxes and at cafes but the reality is much of it is high in fat and not as good for us as we would like to believe.
This banana carrot cake is low-fat and uses wholemeal flour and as such is a great option. You can omit the nuts if your school or work place is a nut-free environment as so many are. Alternatively I have used chopped nuts or walnuts rather than pecans if that's all I have had on hand.

Banana carrot cake

90g butter
1 cup raw sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup grated carrot
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 ½ cups wholemeal flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder sifted
1 teaspoon bi-carb sifted
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup chopped pecans (I leave these out due to nut-free school policy)

  1. Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in carrot and banana
  2. Fold in sifted ingredients and pecans. Spoon mix into greased and base lines 20cm round cake pan.(I use a lamington pan because the slices are a better shape for lunch-boxes etc).
  3. Bake in a moderately slow oven 180C fo 50-55 minutes of until cooked when tested. Stand 5 minutes before turning out.

I cut before I freeze. Enjoy!