This is the cake I made for my daughter’s first birthday and it went down a treat with both the kids and adults. I admit- I poured a bit of cream on mine when I served it but it’s perfectly good without!

You can safely call this cake ‘good for you’!! Just don’t let the kids know that- as far as they’re concerned this is a naughty treat!!

Ingredients-

3 medium eggs

150g maple syrup

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

275g ground almonds

1 teaspoon of baking powder

3 & 1/2 bananas (with brown spots on!)
For the icing-

50g coconut oil

25g cocoa powder

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Put the eggs and maple syrup in a large bowl with the vanilla essence  

Use an electric whisk to whisk for around 10 minutes! (It’s at times like these I wish I had a kitchen aid to do that for me!)

It should end up looking like this! Lots of air bubbles!!

Add the ground almonds

Use a spatula to gently fold the almonds into the mixture being careful not to over mix it.

Add the baking powder and fold in gently

Use a blender or food processor to blend the bananas into a smooth paste

Pour the banana paste into the bowl

Gently fold into the mixture until its nicely blended. Again- don’t over mix or you’ll loose too much air.

Grease a large cake tin

Pour the mixture in and gently work to the edges with a spatula

Pop into a preheated oven at 160-170 degrees on a lower middle shelf for 40-45mins

Cool on a wire rack for 30mins before removing from the tin and cooling completely.

For the icing- melt the coconut oil in a pan until clear with no lumps

Remove from the heat and add the maple syrup, vanilla essence and cocoa powder. Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon until it’s smooth. Leave to cool for 5-10mins, stirring occasionally

Pour onto the top of the (completely cooled) cake. It will probably spread to the edges by itself but if it needs a little help use a knife or spatula to encourage it towards the edges.

Leave it to set for an hour or longer then eat!!