Homeschooling for 2016 started today. One of our first projects was to create some thank you and celebratory cakes.
To thank our neighbours for taking care of our chickens while we were on holidays, the children made a card and baked a cake. Hugh and Maia collaborated to create this recipe for an upside down choc-banana cake using the new tin Maia received at Christmas.
I think I turned it out too quickly and the top fell apart, so Maia suggested we ice it to cover up the cracks. As soon as it was finished, the kids raced across the the neighbours with it – they we so delighted and impressed with the effort the kids had gone to to say thank you. The kids felt so happy to do this too.
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| I turned the upside down choice-banana cake out too quickly. |
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| Maia collected a lemon from the garden and made some icing to disguise the cracks – looks great! |
The recipe is simple and quick and it uses the things I usually have available in the cupboard.
Hugh and Maia’s Choc-Banana Cake Ingredients:
- 2 eggs (from our chooks)
- 2 local bananas
- 1/4 cup organic coconut oil
- 1/3 cup raw organic cacao powder
- 1 cup organic sunflower seeds – ground in the coffee grinder (almonds would also be nice)
- 2 cups organic wholemeal SR flour
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 1 tsp organic vanilla essence
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- organic milk – enough to make the consistency smooth
- Blend eggs, bananas, oil, honey, vanilla and cinnamon together in food processor.
- Add freshly ground sunflower seeds, flour and cacao and blend till smooth adding milk until the mixture is a cook cake consistency (not runny, not stiff).
- Bake at 170 fan forced oven setting for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
The icing was a blend of the juice of 1 lemon, 1.5 cups of icing sugar, 2 tbsp coconut oil, water to blend, coconut to sprinkle on top.
While Hugh and Maia were baking the cake for the neighbours, we received a call confirming a big new project. The kids were looking for an excuse to bake a cake for us too – that was it.
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| The proud cake chefs with the cake they were about to enjoy for morning tea. |
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| This cake came out perfectly. I waited a little longer, and it also didn’t have the banana pieces in the bottom – phew! |
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| It is a lovely and moist cake that we enjoyed for our morning tea celebration. No need for icing on this one. |
What a delicious way to say a thank you!
The cake looks delicious, and I love the new cake tin. Makes the cake look very special.
I'm sure your neighbours were delighted with it. Congratulations to the young chefs.
Your children are adorable! I loved homeschooling mine and all the fun activities we got to do together. I found the key to having the cake come out perfectly is letting it cool totally and then loosening the edges before turning it out. I've had so many cakes crack on me throughout the years until I started doing that. Have a great day!
Thanks Jean, We have a couple more yet to make. The chefs will keep refining their skills. Maia is currently planning to open a garden cafe once a month – that will be fun!
It is so lovely to be able to create something and put love into a gift of thanks.
Thanks Terri. I absolutely love homeschooling. Thanks for the tip about completely the cooling of the cake.
Oh my gosh that looks good!