I haven’t made a great many cakes recently, but my youngest is vegan and wanted to make some granola bars, and the recipe called for coconut sugar. I looked up about coconut sugar, and apparently it causes less of a response in blood sugar than regular glucose, so I thought I would try it, as Rose is back at hers until next week, and besides, I fancied cake. My dad is diabetic, so I thought it would be interesting to see if he could manage it. I have used Sukrin before now but didn’t like the weird taste so a non-spiky sweetener would be really useful.
Another reason for baking a cake (like I need one) is that I bake the sourdough at 210℃ for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180℃ for another 35-45, depending on whether the loaf has been in the fridge, and that’s quite a lot of energy for one loaf. So if I can stick a cake, some roasted veg or jacket potatoes in at the same time, I am trying to do that.
When I searched for recipes using coconut sugar, I found one for Pumpkin & Banana Bread on The Spruce Eats, and as I have a bunch of pumpkin peeled and chunked in the freezer, I thought I would try it.
I boiled the pumpkin in a little water, and ended up using a little more pumpkin and a bit less banana than the recipe states. I would love to reduce banana consumption completely and use more local alternatives but that’s a hard one to get past my daughter. I also used emmer flour as I use ancient grain flours when the recipe can get away with it; bread is a little trickier to swap out entirely. I used melted butter instead of oil, and 100g of melted butter is half a cup, for those of us who still can’t get their head around measuring in sticks. I do use the microwave for things other than melting butter, but after 15 years of not having one, I really appreciate the ability to do so. I have unsalted butter but as this recipe uses oil there was already an added 1/4 teaspoon so that was fine. Bear this in mind and perhaps omit it if you use salted butter.
Top Tip : if you don’t want to sieve the flour mixture, gently mash it with a balloon whisk to mix it and get rid of any baking soda bombs – ugh, they are the worst.
I drizzled a maple glaze on top:
- icing sugar
- maple syrup
- lemon juice
- pumpkin spice
- vanilla essence
It is really delicious – and the texture is perfect. It’s not at all heavy for a 100% wholemeal cake – I think the yogurt kicks the bicarb in to action and really lightens it.
Wayward Bee 