Banana cake with spelt flour

My fruit seller sold me this humongous comb of red banana and despite his best effort, hubby did not manage to finish all the fruit by the time it was awfully ripe. Red bananas are quite different from the yellow ones. They do not have that sweet heady scent of bananas and are more starchy to the palate. For this baker who is ambivalent of the banana, the red version fits the criteria to make a ‘you won’t believe it’s a banana cake’ cake.

 

Well, to each his own. It’s recipe is tweaked from my previous and latest recipe, this time using wholegrain spelt flour for it’s low glycemic index. The recipe yields a denser cake with a slower rise so the baking powder  and meringue provided the much needed lift it needed for an impressive looking cake.

 

Ingredients: 

 

Yoke base B:

120g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (150g if you wish for a richer version)

50g brown sugar

1 pinch of salt (or sea salt flakes)

4 yolks

2 medium bananas, mashed

 

Flour mix A : 

200g spelt  flour

1 tsp baking powder

 

extras:

1 handful toasted walnuts, smashed to smithereens

 

Meringue C:

4 egg whites

50g castor sugar

 

Method:

Prepare a 8 x 4 tin, greased and dusted. Set aside.

Place a baking rack in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

 

Cream butter. Whisk in brown sugar and salt.

Whisk in yolks, one at a time.

Whisk in bananas.

Sieve in flour and baking powder. Whisk to combine.

 

Whisk whites and sugar until it just forms stiff peaks.

Fold whites to yolk batter, in 4 portions.

 

Bake the cake in the preheated oven until the cake is tan.

Cake is ready when the skewer inserted into the cake turns out dry.