BANANA NUT MINI-CAKES

This is really a banana bread recipe baked in mini-bundt pans, so I wasn’t sure whether to post it under Breads or Desserts. These mini-loaves are a treat served plain with a pot of homemade soup, or you can dress them up with glaze and toppings and serve as dessert.

There’s a wonderful recipe book full of sugar-free desserts, Sweet & Natural Baking by Mani Niall. This is a slightly lower-fat version of his Faux-Nuts recipe.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini-bundt pans with olive oil cooking spray and dust with whole wheat pastry flour. Tap out excess flour.

2. In large bowl, blend together:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp salt

3. In medium bowl, blend with an electric hand-held mixer for 2 minutes:

2 eggs (or equivalent in egg whites)

1 cup Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp rice milk

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and beat for an additional 2 minutes.

5. Stir in:

3 ripe bananas, mashed

6. Fill mini-bundt pans about 2/3 full with batter. Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cool before inverting onto waxed paper (you may need to gently loosen edges with a knife first). Cool completely.

7. To dress up mini-cakes, in small heavy saucepan bring to full boil:

1 cup Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet

8. Prepare small bowls of:

Fruit Sweet glaze

Chopped walnuts

Unsweetened coconut

Dark chocolate shavings

9. Dip mini-cakes into glaze, and then into toppings. Makes nine (9) 4" mini-cakes.