Off lately the loaf cakes have had me hooked…..like a child to a Peter Pan series. And why wouldn’t I? Given that my obsession is increasing day by day and I am trying my best to cling to my fore-most resolution of 2015, I am literally out-doing myself with breakfast ideas. Please don’t take that as an arrogance considering I mostly cooked porridge, eggs on toast, bread and butter or cheese sandwiches on most days of my morning meal which currently have become quite boring in my home. Since the revelation dawned on me that skipping breakfast isn’t really a very clever idea, I have realized how important it is to start your day right with an appropriate fitting meal. Not only for myself but also for the boys in the house. It doesn’t matter if meal on the table isn’t picture perfect, but what really matters is that my family is eating at least two meals of the day together. Though our morning meal is allotted a time of max. 20 mins before Little A’s school van arrive and husband leave for office, as cliché as it may sound, we are making some wonderful memories over good food, hearty giggles and striking light conversations first thing in the morning. That itself makes the start of my day so very inviting.
And cakes for breakfast is always a good solution to the days I need a serious baking therapy; to break from the monotony and relieve the stress!
What would make a breakfast more appealing would be is to make them interestingly powerful. That’s when nutritious options for smoothies, cereals, parfaits, oatmeal etc. come into the picture alongwith nourishing choices of cakes and breads. I am so inspired by the ever so versatile chia seeds right now, that I have fallen into that trending bandwagon the moment my sister recommended it and am blitzing them away to glory into various delicious smoothies everyday. The puddings and porridges only to be eagerly waiting in queue! That is also when I realized that my loaf cakes needed some lively twists and changes from the recipes that I have been following all throughout. When I stepped into the kitchen bearing an idea to substitute a large portion of all purpose flour with wheat flour, I was skeptical of the result, though I was sure banana and nutella will save my day. But boy was I surprised with the outcome the moment I cut into it – the crumbly texture and swirls of chocolate just had me too excited to say the least! And also super proud at the same time. However, this loaf cake isn’t “really” what you would call a very benign conducive choice to list it under “whole-some food” considering other ingredients involved, the wheat flour did take it up a notch higher in resulting a better taste, lighter and moister cake than what the regular white flour would do. Also, in place of regular sugar I used honey for an earthy taste. The measurement below won’t return a very sweet cake, yet if you want to make it more sweeter you can use honey+1/4th cup brown sugar.
Who doesn’t love a Banana Bread or Nutella anyway? Let me also tell you that this killer combination of both yields such a good taste and texture you’ll be inclined to keep going back to it every now and then – breakfast or not!
This also can be included in a list of home baked treats for your little one’s after-school snacks and you won’t have to fight them to eat it. There I said it!
Enough said, let us now get started on this yummilicious and decadent Whole Wheat Banana Nutella Swirl Cake, pretty quickly please (a line taken from Little A’s favorite TV show – The Hungry Henry)!!
Recipe.
Ingredients :
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Whole Wheat Flour – 1 cup
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All Purpose Flour – 1/3 cup
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Butter – 1/2 cup at room temperature
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Honey – 1/2 cup
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Eggs – 2, large at room temperature
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Salt – 1/4 tsp
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Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
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Baking Powder – 1 tsp
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Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
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Banana – 2, large.
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Milk – 1/2 cup
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Nutella – 1/3 cup
Method :
Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius. Grease and dust 9*9 inch loaf pan and keep aside. In a bowl, whisk together both the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a large mixing bowl, whisk butter and honey until creamy. Break in eggs one at a time and keep stirring. Add vanilla extract and mashed bananas until well incorporated. Tip the dry ingredients into the wet and mix with a light hand until the flour cannot be seen. Stir in milk and keep aside. Warm nutella in microwave for 10-15 seconds to soften it up. Pour half the batter in a prepared loaf pan and tip in half of nutella. Swirl the batter delicately using a butter knife. Repeat again with the remaining batter and nutella, creating two layers in a pan. Cover the top of the pan with an aluminum foil and pop it in the oven for 60 mins; removing the foil half way through. It took exactly 60 mins for my loaf cake to bake but it depends on oven to oven so make sure you do a skewer test at 50 mins to check if the loaf has been thoroughly baked. Let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing them. Though it taste great on its own as a side to tea or coffee, you can serve it with cream for breakfast.
