Sugar-free Banana Carrot Loaf

To be honest, the reason why I don't bake a lot is because I can't bring myself to measure out the cups of sugar or mounds of butter that are so often required in most traditional baking recipes. So when I find a sweet-thing recipe that has minimal amounts of either, I'm almost immediately sold.

These days, there's no shortage of recipes accommodating the 'sugar-free' lifestyle, but I find it interesting to note how they substitute other ingredients for regular white or brown sugar. Often, I find it's honey, maple syrup, or dates; but even more often it's slightly obscure (read: expensive) options like agave syrup, rice malt syrup, stevia (a plant-derived sweetener), or coconut sugar - to name a few.

Without a doubt, I prefer recipes which use the former, mostly for cost and even familiarity to an extent, and seeing ingredient lists things like rice malt syrup, I'm almost immediately turned off. So for those reasons, I love the following recipe because it uses good ol' fashioned dates and bananas.

I discovered this recipe a few months ago on My New Roots - an inspired, natural foods and nutrition-based blog by Canadian, Sarah B., who bases herself in Copenhagen. She writes incredibly accessible healthy recipes with thorough nutritional information about key ingredients. To be honest, I haven't made much from her blog - reading it more for inspiration and guilt-free food porn - but her 'Best Friends Banana Carrot Cake' inspired me to get baking.

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Sugar-free Banana Carrot Loaf makes a 9"x13.5" loaf

// from My New Roots //

I've renamed this a 'loaf' instead of 'cake', as I never feel the need to ice the finished product as Sarah B. does in the original recipe. If you feel lost without icing, I'd recommend cream cheese swirled through with maple syrup or honey; otherwise, I love it plain, or with a dollop of full-fat organic yoghurt and some honey for a comforting spike of sweetness. A perfect option for breakfast or an anytime-of-day treat.

2 c wholemeal flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp fine sea salt (*less if using salted butter)
3/4 c finely chopped walnuts
110g unsalted* butter, heated until just melted
1/2 c dried dates, seeded & finely chopped into a paste
3 ripe bananas (1 1/4 c), mashed well
1 1/2 c grated carrots, about 3 medium
handful each of raisins, dried pineapple, coconut flakes - or anything like it that you fancy (chocolate included)
1/2 c plain yoghurt
2 eggs, lightly whisked

Preheat oven to 180degC / 350degF. Line a 9x5x3" loaf or 8x8" cake pan with parchment paper. Sift flour, b.p., cinnamon, and salt together in medium bowl. Stir in walnuts and set aside. Stir dates into melted butter, breaking up dates slightly.

In large separate bowl, combine banana and carrots, and add date/butter mix, stirring together and breaking up dates as you go. Whisk in yoghurt and eggs. Add flour mix and stir until everything just comes together. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for about 50-70 mins (with a loaf pan, mine is ready around 60-65 minutes, it will be less if using a cake pan where the thickness of the cake is less), or until a toothpick tests clean in the centre. Remove from oven and cool.

Instead of icing, serve simply with full-fat natural yoghurt.

Oh, Sweet Bread

With desserts, I'm pretty lazy.  If there are too many ingredients that I don't already have in the cupboard, I'll be reluctant to make it.  Besides the fact that my sweet tooth is small, health-wise I don't mind if there isn't something sweet around.  It could have something to do with the few months of my life where I ate a sweet muffin at least every other day (a whole other story), or maybe it's that small guilt factor that comes with pouring a cup of sugar into a bowl with half a block a butter already sitting in it.  Of course, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do but I'd probably save the guilt for a cheeseburger.

Our annual office picnic in the weekend however did call for desserts and I thought long and hard about my contribution.  A raspberry chocolate brownie? A flourless black doris plum upside down cake? Both personal favourites when the occasion arises but I was feeling lazy for baking. And I had no chocolate in the pantry. Fresh fruit salad? I did need to go to the local fruit and vege market anyway...

I turned to Heidi Swanson for some inspiration.  Award-winning author of the blog 101 Cookbooks and books Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day, she had made a name for herself through her natural and whole food cooking philosophy made easy, delicious and accessible through her blog and publications. I hadn't read much of her work before I picked up Super Natural Every Day in Portland's Powell's bookstore, but I was already in a phase of wanting to cook with less processed ingredients. I was sold.

So, I turned straight to the dessert or 'Sweet Treats' section and slowed down straight away.  As I mentioned in my first post, I like reading cookbooks just to read and in the urgency of needing to find a dish to make, I couldn't help myself.  Gorgeous recipes such as Watermelon Salad and Membrillo Cake led the chapter, though were out of my reach due to not having any medjool dates, quince paste or rose water around.  Then, the perfect simple recipe: Sweet Panzanella.

Panzanella is traditionally an Italian savoury bread salad often made up of stale bread tossed in typical Italian flavours such as tomatoes, onions, basil, capers and olives, in a oil and vinegar dressing.  A beautifully easy summer's picnic lunch, making Swanson's sweet variation fit for my occasion.  The list of ingredients exceeded no more than 6 and I only needed to buy a loaf of whole grain seed bread and some fresh fruit.  The original recipe calls for raspberries but suggests the option of using either plums, peaches or nectarines - all fruit fiercely in season right now.  My plan was to find the cheapest juiciest option at the market, and cheap and juicy I found: Plum Delights for $1.99/kg. Yahtzee.