Low-Fat Banana Raspberry Loaf Cake
Ordinarily, banana bread exactly low in fat! But with no butter, only a little oil, unexpected ingredients like cocoa powder and raspberry preserves, and a lot of mashed bananas, this unusual rendition of an exceedingly popular quick bread is lower in fat than more traditional recipes. You need really ripe bananas for this. Choose the ones with the skins that are almost black-in other words, the ones waiting to be thrown out. They provide the flavor, which there is a lot of in this tender cake.
A note about storing this cake. Because it is low in fat, it will dry out if stored for any length of time. If you need to hold it overnight, wrap it well in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons safflower oil
- 1 tablespoon nonfat plain yogurt
- 2 very ripe medium bananas enough for 1 cup mashed
- 2 tablespoons raspberry preserves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour loaf pan. Cut a piece of wax paper to fit the bottom of the pan, place the paper in the pan, and grease and flour it as well.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, nutmeg,and salt.
- Mash the bananas.
- In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, and yogurt on medium speed for 4 minutes, until smooth. Add the mashed bananas and the raspberry preserves and beat 1 minute longer.
- Reduce the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients, beating just until moistened. (The batter should be uniform, but not overmixed.)
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 1 hour, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool completely in the pan set on a rack; then unmold and slice. The loaf is best eaten fresh, the day it is baked.