Apple Banana Cake

While it may be called a cake, it gets baked in a tart pan and technically since it’s not very sweet it could get away with being a bread but the taste is 100% a muffin. Apple Banana Bread-Cake-Tart-Muffin just didn’t really sound like the right title though. 🙂 I ultimately went with cake but it’s a pretty wholesome cake if you ask me. There’s no frosting or icing, just the slightest dusting of powdered sugar. And it does have apples, bananas and ground ginger and cinnamon. I mostly eat it with coffee (or tea) so maybe it’s actually a coffee cake. :-p

Aside from the name game, it’s really delicious. Banana bread with chunks of apple, perfect if you’re sheltering in place and feel guilty about not getting to the the spotted bananas and the soft apples in your fruit basket sooner. They can certainly be repurposed here. And if you don’t have a tart pan, worry not. You can bake this in a loaf pan or cake/pie baking dish. Just adjust your baking time accordingly.

Whether you want to impress those you’re sheltering in place with, or if you want to keep this in your back pocket as a great quick recipe to whip up next time you have unexpected visitors, this is the perfect recipe. Enjoy!

Apple Banana Cake

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• tsp. salt
• tsp. ground ginger
• tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 bananas (ripe & mashed)
• cup sugar
• cup brown sugar
• cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• cup oil (grape-seed or vegetable, or whatever you have)
• 2 eggs
• tsp. vanilla
• 1 apple (peeled & diced (~3/4cup))
• 1/2 banana (sliced into thin discs to top the cake)

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Generously grease a10-inch tart or pie pan. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (just to prevent any—unlikely—spills).

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the banana, sugar, brown sugar, yogurt, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture with a spatula. Stir in the apples until evenly distributed. Transfer the batter into prepared pan. Top with banana slices.

    

4. Bake for 27 minutes, until the center has set and the cake springs back when touched with your fingertip. Cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

You can use a 9×5-inch loaf pan instead if preferred; baking time will be 1 hour.

Inspired by Sweet C’s blog.