This cake is wheat-free, vegan and wickedly moist.
- 1 tsp ground chia seeds
- 2 cups white spelt flour
- ½ cup rapadura (panela) sugar
- 1/3 tsp baking powder (gluten-free)
- 2 tsp baking soda (aluminium free)
- 4 ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup coconut yoghurt (or use 1/3 cup nut milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice; or natural dairy yoghurt if not vegan/intolerant)
- 100 ml macadamia nut oil or melted coconut oil, plus extra for greasing cake tin
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (fermented, unpasteurised)
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped, plus extra halves for decorating (optional)
- 1 batch of coconut frosting (optional)
Preheat oven to 180C/355F (160C/320F fan-forced)
Line and grease a 22cm springform cake tin
In a cup, mix the ground chia seeds with 45 ml water. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder and soda.
In a separate bowl, fold the chia mix, mashed banana, yogurt (nut milk/lemon juice), oil, and vinegar.
Pour the wet mix into the dry, and fold until mixed.
Fold in the chopped walnuts.
Pour mix into prepared tin, and cover tin with a sheet of foil or it will brown too quickly before fully cooking inside.
Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a cake skewer comes out clean and the cake is firm in the middle.
Cool in tin for 5 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack.
Once cool, enjoy as is or frost it up with this coconut-lemon frosting and some walnut halves.
Lesh Karan 
Yay ur back!! What a wonderful looking trip and that cake looks delicious!! It’s these memories that we will always remember – especially when they are food related 🙂
Yay! Thanks Sig…food plays such a big part of my travels (and travel memories). Hope all is going well with you x
Sounds like you had a great trip – I would love go to Cuba, its always better mingling with the locals! And I would love to go to LA being a healthy foodie too!! 😀
Hi Angela! Happy New Year 🙂
Yes, I had a fab trip. Cuba is worth the hassle to get to – for it’s history, people, and salsa! LA, of course, is any real foodies dream. You would love it! Chat soon x
Lesh – I also loved the Cuban Banana cake story! Having been there a few times (and even married to a Cuban) one thing I can attest to – Cubans are extraordinarily inventive! What they don’t have they will find a substitute for – its just human ingenuity which is fast disappearing in our society of convenience… One thing there is plenty of in Cuba, as you may have noticed, is sugar! So the banana cake sounds like a great use of it. Can’t wait to try your version myself.
Hiya Sheridan! Wow, you’re married to a Cuban! I’m not sure many people (other than Cubans, of course!) can say that. Yes, they are extraordinarily inventive. They never waste anything and will fix everything that gets broken instead of buying a new one. Frugal, ingenious and sustainable. We could learn a lot form them! Let me know how you go with the cake!
This looks fabulous!!! Can I use coconut flour instead of spelt flour? Would it be the same quantities? I’ve only just discovered your website and I love it! Thanks so much! Katie.
Hi Katie, I’m afraid coconut flour is a lot trickier as it is not really a flour ~ so you can’t do a direct substitute without playing around with the othe ingredients. If you need it to be gluten free, replace with 1 cup almond meal and 1 cup buckwheat flour, and add a couple of eggs to bind.
[…] back, it became obvious that it happened after our trip to Cuba a couple of years ago, and after Kenya and Tanzania a year before […]