When I stopped keeping sugar in the house, I thought my cake days were over. Then my neighbor showed me this one: rolled oats, two ripe bananas and a grated apple, with a little cocoa for that chocolate feeling. There is no flour and no added sugar, so all the sweetness comes from the fruit and the raisins, which means it tastes like a gentle, fruity chocolate cake rather than a sugary bakery one. I slice it for coffee in the afternoon, and my grandkids eat it straight from the pan. It keeps well, it travels well, and the whole thing is mixed in one bowl.
Servings: 8 · Prep: 20 min · Cook: 35 min
Ingredients
- 2 large (about 1 cup / 225 g mashed) ripe bananas
- 1 medium (about 1 cup / 150 g) apple, peeled and coarsely grated
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup (80 g) plain yogurt or sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups (135 g) rolled oats
- 2 tbsp (12 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp (30 g) raisins
- 1/3 cup (40 g) walnuts, chopped
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 pinch salt
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) square or round pan with parchment paper, letting it come up the sides so you can lift the cake out later.
- Put 1 cup (90 g) of the oats in a blender and pulse for about 30 seconds until you have a coarse oat flour. Keep the remaining 1/2 cup (45 g) whole for texture.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until almost smooth. Whisk in the eggs and the yogurt until the mixture looks creamy and even.
- Add the ground oats, the whole oats, the cocoa, the baking powder, the cinnamon and the salt. Stir with a spatula just until no dry streaks remain.
- Squeeze the grated apple lightly over the sink to remove the loose juice, then fold it into the batter with the raisins and most of the walnuts. Let the batter rest 5 minutes so the oats can soak up some of the moisture; it will thicken.
- Spread the batter in the pan, smooth the top and scatter over the rest of the walnuts and the pumpkin seeds. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top springs back when pressed and a toothpick in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then lift the cake out with the paper and let it cool completely before slicing. Oat cakes firm up as they cool, so be patient: warm slices are soft and crumbly.
Tips and variations
- The browner the bananas, the sweeter the cake. Bananas with plenty of brown spots make a big difference when there is no added sugar.
- Swap the raisins for chopped dates or dried cranberries for a festive autumn version.
- For a chocolate top, melt 1 3/4 oz (50 g) of 85% dark chocolate with 2 tbsp of yogurt and spread it on the cooled cake. Dark chocolate does contain a little sugar, so skip it if you want to stay strictly with no added sugar.
- Keep the cake covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. It tastes even better on the second day.
I hope this little oat cake finds a place on your table the way it found one on mine. Enjoy it with a good cup of coffee!
