Welcome to Finn's World: Coconut Banana Cake

Eat, surf, sleep, repeat … step into Finn’s World with this delicious Coconut Banana Cake

Most of us start our day with coffee and a commute; Finn starts hers with a smoothie and a surf. With her twin passions of food and the sea, Finn’s philosophy is that as long as she is never far from either, it’s been a good day at the office!

This is probably my absolute favourite cake. Then again, I’m sure I’ve said that to lots of other cakes at some point. While I love, love, love banana bread, I’m also coconuts about coconut and I love tropical-flavoured things. I wanted to bring the two together and what a marriage it made. This bad boy is gluten, dairy and refined-sugar free. But more importantly, it’s a tasty cake.

MAKES 1 THIN (BUT DECADENT) 23CM ROUND CAKE OR 1 PERFECTLY SIZED 1LB LOAF CAKE

2 cups (160g) desiccated coconut

cup (160ml) coconut oil, melted

2 large or 3 medium eggs

4 bananas – 2 ripe ones for the recipe and 2 newer ones for the top

cup (130ml) maple syrup

1 cup (120g) GF self-raising flour

1 cup (120g) ground almonds

2 tsp GF baking powder

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2 On the stove, put a non-stick pan over a high heat. Dry fry the desiccated coconut until it turns a light golden colour. The recipe is still delicious if you don’t do this, but I think it adds an extra oomph! Put the coconut to one side on a big plate and let it cool.

3 In a big mixing bowl, add the coconut oil, eggs, 2 ripe bananas and maple syrup. Blend it all with the hand blender. If you’re determined to get a workout in, you can do it by hand and mash the bananas with a fork on a plate first.

4 In a smaller mixing bowl, mix the desiccated coconut, flour, ground almonds and baking powder.

5 Pour the dry mix into the wet mix bit by bit, incorporating as you go.

6 Line a 23cm round cake tin or a loaf tin with baking parchment. I use the 23cm tin if I want a decorative cake and the loaf tin if I want to pre-slice the cake and freeze it to have a slice each day with my lunch or morning coffee.

7 Pour in the cake mix. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Halfway through baking time, if I’m doing a round cake, I slice the two fresh bananas into super-thin slices and lay them across the top of the cake, then pop it back in the oven for the last 20–25 minutes so they dry out. You end up with a beautiful, natural-looking cake, perfect for a party.

TO SERVE

You can make this cake even more of a health superstar by lowering the sweetness count. While I love a sweet treat, it doesn’t take a lot to satisfy my sweet tooth (I love dark chocolate). If I’m using super-ripe bananas I might chuck a third one into the mix and leave out the maple syrup altogether.

I tend to serve this cake by itself, as it’s decadent and rich all on its own. It’s a perfect pick-me-up with a nice cup of strong coffee!

Get your copy of Finn’s World online with Eason, Dubray, Gill Books and Amazon or in all good bookshops nationwide.

Follow Finn’s daily adventures on www.finsfitfood.com. Follow @finsfitfood on Instagram, @finsfitfood on Facebook, @fins_fit_food on Twitter, or search for Finns World on snapchat.

About the Author

Finn Ní Fhaoláin’s food journey began when she was diagnosed as a coeliac and became determined to recreate all her favourite dishes – this time without gluten. That difficult road led to a beautiful destination, where Finn has created food that’s not only nutritious, but tastes amazing too! Hailing from the west coast, by the age of 10 Finn had already sailed past a glacier in Alaska, stayed in a convent in the south of France and watched cobras dancing in India. She has a BSc in Earth and Ocean Science and an MSc in Marine Biology, and has completed a professional cookery course at the Lough Gill School of Culinary Arts. She lives, surfs and cooks in Bundoran on Ireland’s northwest coast.