Absolutely sinful banana moelleux

There are a ton of gluten free, processed sugar free and vegan banana bread and cake recipes out there. But this one stands out. You don’t eat it because it’s healthy, you eat it because it looks like chocolate cake and tastes like a little piece of heaven. In French, we use an expression: “c’est une tuerie”, meaning it is killer good. That’s what this is. Moist, dense and probably the most delicious and satisfying snack I’ve made in ages. So much so that I can’t keep it in the house, I’ll just eat it all. Definitely a good one to bring in the office…

IMPORTANT NOTE: Baking time is long but so necessary if you want this moelleux to have that perfect texture. DO NOT under any circumstance take shortcuts and DO leave it in the oven to cool so that it continues baking slowly. The final result is a cake like the one in the picture: it is rather flat, dense and looks like a rich chocolate cake.

INTERESTING TO NOTE: So I actually did bring this cake to the office and one of my health-conscious foodie colleagues thought it would be interesting to count the calories in a serving of this cake. I suspect her question was triggered by the fact that it’s filling and tastes like a million calories. I was pleasantly surprised to see that when I entered all the ingredients in a calorie app, it showed that a slice (assuming you cut the loaf into 10 slices) was a mere 146 calories. Less than most snack bars you’d buy at a store…

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup oat flour (I grind gluten free oats in my Vitamix blender)
• 3/4 almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of sea salt
• 2 tbsp milled flaxseed
• 4 tbsp filtered water
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup coconut milk or cream
• 2 tbsp odorless coconut oil + 1 tsp to grease loaf pan

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175C
2. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper that has been greased with coconut oil
3. Combine milled flaxseed with water and let sit
4. Meanwile, in a large bowl, combine flours, coconut sugar, baking soda and sea salt
5. In a small mixer, place the bananas and blitz until completely pureed and smooth
6. In another bowl, mix the coconut milk, coconut oil, vanilla extract, flaxseed water mixture and pureed bananas until smooth
7. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix.
8. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes. Check for doneness by touching the top in the middle: it shouldn’t feel “wobbly” under, it should be somewhat firm but it won’t be spongy. You can put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so if necessary. Then turn off the oven, leaving the loaf inside to cool for about 45 minutes to an hour. Take it out when lukewarm and cut into thick slices.
9. Can be kept well wrapped in the fridge for up to a week and can easily be frozen once cut