Breakfast Cake

“Breakfast” Cake…Because Why Not Cake For Breakfast?

What makes a “breakfast cake”??? Well, in this case, my co-workers were highly anticipating my arrival with my strawberry themed cake and couldn’t wait to eat it…for breakfast! I thought that was an ok proposition, as you’ll see, this cake is more of a quick bread than a cake anyway, so it is fit to eat anytime of the day!So, I do try to make things healthier and this cake is no exception…it’s made with white whole wheat flour, mashed bananas, pureed strawberries, and applesauce for good measure! It’s low in fat, high(ish) in fiber and protein, and tastes pretty darn good too…

Ingredients:

Cake…

• 2 extra-ripe medium bananas (smashed)
• 2.5 cups pureed strawberries (unstrained)
• 1/2 of my applesauce recipe (~1.5 cups unsweetened applesauce)
• 0.25 cups light brown sugar
• 1.5 cups old fashioned oats (ground into oat flour in food processor)
• 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour (King Arthur preferred)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 egg whites
• 0.25 cups vegetable oil
• 0.5 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Topping…(chocolate ganash frosting)

• 3 oz chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips)
• 0.33 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• sliced strawberries (for garnish)

Ok…I’ve never really made a cake (and iced it) on my own before, so this was an experience for me…but not too overwhelming, as it was so easy to put together!

Preheat your oven to 350F and spray a cake pan with non-stick spray (or butter it).

Beat egg whites and oil together in large mixing bowl. Add strawberries, bananas, applesauce, and brown sugar to bowl and mix well. Add oat flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until combined. Now add in the wheat flour and mix until it’s just combined. This will be a pretty thick batter, much like a quick bread. Fold in chocolate chips (if using).

Plop into cake pan and be sure it spreads evenly and bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly (minus gooey chocolate chips).

Here’s my cake just out of the oven!

It is a pretty dense cake, so try to prepare it a day in advance of when you need it so the gluten in the wheat flour can relax and soften up the cake.

The next day I prepared my filling, pureed strawberries mixed with ~2 tbsp of unflavored gelatin. I took ~1.5 cups of strawberries and added 2 tbsp of gelatin, mixed it up and let it sit for about 20 minutes.With help from my husband, we sliced the cake in half and spooned on the strawberry filling onto the bottom half of the cake…

We then very carefully lifted the other half of the cake and placed it on top of the strawberries. What really helped us from messing this part up was using a wide mouthed pancake spatula that my Mom got us for Christmas.

While I was taking pictures of my masterpiece, my husband made the chocolate ganash topping by heating the cream and pouring it over the chocolate and adding 1 tsp of vanilla. We placed the ganash in the fridge for 20 minutes to cool down and then whipped it up into a quick frosting. The caveat of this frosting process is that you need to spread it quickly or else it becomes too hard to work with easily.

Try to refrigerate the cake overnight and then top with fresh strawberries before serving the next morning.

Nutrition (1/16 of cake):

• 223 cal
• 11 g fat
• 30 g carb
• 5 g fiber
• 5 g protein

Plus…a bunch of happy co-workers!