Recipes

[lavendersage]

This recipe was sent to me by my Japanese friend. She found this recipe in a Macrobiotic cookbook. I am posting the recipe just as she wrote it. I have made it 3 times and changed something each time I made it. It isn't a fattening- creamy- feeling guilty for eating too much -delicious dessert but I guess the best way I can describe it, is- it's a high protein (when made with Greek yogurt) ,fruity, tart, bar-cake that tastes good. : )

Banana Yogurt Cake

2 ripe bananas, smashed

fresh lemon juice ,½ of lemon

cake flour, 1 cup

A=

yogurt, 1 cup

beaten, 2 eggs

brown sugar, ½ cup

vegetable oil, ½ cup

brandy, 1 teaspoon

1. Mix bananas and lemon juice. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 d.c.)

3. Mix A in a large mixing bowl until well blended.

4. Add flour and banana with lemon juice into A until well blended and smooth.

5. Bake 30 minutes.

The first time I made it, I thought she had left out the leavening. Since it was called a cake, I added 1 teaspoon of baking soda and also a ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt. I didn’t have brandy so used Captain Morgan spiced rum. I used Greek yogurt. She used plain yogurt but said that “Burgalian” yogurt is popular in Japan. (I think she meant Bulgarian.) : ) I baked in a buttered square dish.

It was a very, very moist cake. It kind of reminded me of a bread pudding consistency. I liked that it was so healthy. It was very mild tasting since it had no spices.

I later asked her if it was supposed to have baking soda in it. She said no, that it was supposed to be like a cheesecake. She sent a photo of hers so I knew what it was supposed to look like. She then made it again and added 1 cup of brown sugar (instead of ½ cup) and chopped apples. She said it was better with a whole cup of sugar and that I may want to add 1 1/2 cups.

I then made it again without the baking soda, but kept the salt that I had added before and also added the chopped apples and extra ½ cup of brown sugar for a total of 1 cup. It was kind of like a very firm custard. I liked the consistency but it needed some spices. I didn’t like the apples in it. Mine were too tart.

Yesterday, I made it with a little less lemon juice, added some cinnamon, nutmeg, teaspoon of vanilla, 1 cup of brown sugar and pinch of kosher salt. I baked for 37 minutes. I also added half of a fresh pear, chopped fine, along with 1 teaspoon of white sugar, and mixed in with the banana–lemon mixture.

I like the added spices in it. The pear made it even more moist, kind of wet when it was warm. The lemon, along with the yogurt, makes it tart, so I think only about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice is needed. It may not be needed at all. I might just mix a little of the yogurt in the banana to keep it from turning brown.

Here are the changes/additions that I like~

1 cup brown sugar

cinnamon to taste

nutmeg to taste

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. vanilla

only 1 teaspoon lemon juice

pears chopped fine, optional

1 teaspoon baking soda, optional