What I love about GF Chocolate Banana Protein Snack Cake
This Gluten-Free Chocolate Banana Protein Snack Cake is seriously delicious—like, you’ll be shocked it’s actually good for you. It’s made without refined sugar and is completely gluten-free. The texture of the cake is super moist and soft. Plus, it’s a great way to use up those overripe bananas hiding out in your freezer. Win-win!
Not only this, but this protein-packed cake is super moist and incredibly versatile. It’s perfect for school lunches, afternoon snacks, or even a healthier dessert option. If you’re like me and love a little something sweet after dinner, keep a batch prepped in the fridge—you’ll thank yourself later.
Plus, the added boost of protein is a nice bonus of course, especially if you’re trying to meet your daily goals. Every bit helps, right?
Recipe Notes
A few things to keep in mind:
- Bananas – I LOVE that this recipes provides another way to use up those brown bananas. Ripe bananas could work I think, but they need to be somewhat overripe. You will need either 2 large or 3 small bananas for this recipe.
- Olive oil – Extra virgin olive oil helps to keep this cake nice and moist. I haven’t experimented with other oils, but I’m thinking that coconut oil would work as well.
- Maple syrup – Be sure to use a good quality, real maple syrup. You’ll want it as natural as possible.
- Oat flour – If you don’t have any oat flour, you can use a high powered blender, food processor or spice grinder to create your own oat flour. If you are making your own oat flour, I recommend using sprouted oats if possible, otherwise any type of large flake/old-fashioned oats works great.
- Protein powder – I recommend a good quality grass-fed whey protein powder. A plant-based protein powder would also work. Either way, make sure it’s sweetened with stevia to help keep sugars down.
- Cocoa powder – I love to use dutch-processed cocoa powder so that the cake has that deep, dark chocolatey brown colour. Any kind of cocoa powder works great though.
- Chocolate chips – I like to sprinkle a few stevia-sweetened chocolate chips on top of the cake for added chocolatey goodness. I recommend using sugar-free chocolate chips if you can find them. Health food stores typically sell them or you can purchase them online. If you’re not worried about sugar, any chocolate chips will do.
How to make it
Step 1: Mix the wet ingredients.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Then add the olive oil, almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and eggs and whisk until completely combined.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients.
To the same mixing bowl, add the oat flour, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk again until combined and there are no dry pockets.
Step 3: Pour batter into baking pan.
Pour the protein cake batter into the prepared baking pan and top with chocolate chips.
Step 4: Bake!
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into squares. Enjoy!
FAQ:
Yes, coconut oil and avocado oil also work great!
Unfortunately, not all flours are created equally and so they don’t all measure 1:1. I don’t recommend swapping the oat flour for another flour unless you know the exact conversion.
Yes, peanut butter will also work. Sometimes, I find the flavour of peanut butter really takes over and almond butter is a better option, but it will definitely still work! try to find a nice drippy peanut butter if you’re going to make that swap.
Yes! Simply swap out the chocolate chips for dairy-free/vegan chocolate chips and it will be totally dairy-free! It’s a quick and easy fix. 🙂
I recommend storing the cake in an air-tight container in the fridge to preserve freshness. It should keep this way for up to 5 days.
GF Chocolate Banana Protein Snack Cake
Equipment
- 1 9"x13" Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 2 large, very ripe bananas (about 1 cup mashed)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup chocolate protein powder
- 3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mash the bananas in a medium-sized bowl and then add the olive oil, almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla and eggs and whisk until combined.
- To the same bowl, add the oat flour, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until no lumps remain.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- Let cool completely before cutting into squares. Enjoy!
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