Chocolate Banana Cakes

One of these things is not like the other ... wait a minute. Scratch that. Neither of them are like the other. In one small way. Okay, I'll admit it. They are almost identical. :)

They are both delectable chocolate banana cakes made with a couple of over ripe bananas just begging for a chance at fate. They both have everyone's favourite superfood -- raw cacao. They both contain very little sweetner and a decent amount of protein. In fact, they are identical in every respect except for one naughty little detail. The bottom cake contains an addition of a few decadent morsels of Callebaut dark chocolate ...

Now, I have to confess I'm not much of a chocolate eater, and I tend to turn up my nose at banana. (Cooked is okay, but raw? Erk.) However, I live with a couple of true chocolate lovers and banana eaters. My little son's first experience with chocolate was raw cacao nibs, which taste to me exactly like dirt. However, to him they are wonderful. I guess I don't  need to bring up the cigarette butt eating incident again, but ...

These little cakes were very popular in our house. We did half the batch with Callebaut morsels, and half sans. The raw cacao make them taste gratifyingly chocolately even without the punch of the chocolate. However, my husband will attest that they certainly aren't harmed in any way by the addition. ;)

ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup clear agave

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 over ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

1 cup pecan meal

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

dash of freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1/4 cup raw cacao powder (or cocoa if you must ;))

1 cup kamut flour (finely milled, pastry flour texture, whole grain, please)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 to 1/2 cup of high quality chocolate morsels

directions:

preheat oven to 345 and prepare 24 muffin cups (or use a rectangular pan if you prefer)

1. lightly warm the milk and oil together to melt the oil (coconut oil is a solid below 24 degrees)

2. add agave, and eggs, and stir briskly to combine

3. add vanilla

4. lightly mash the bananas (don't puree), and stir into the wet ingredients

5. stir in the pecan meal, sea salt, cinnamon, and black pepper

6. stir in the raw cacao and baking soda

7. add the kamut flour and mix thoroughly

8. if you are not adding chocolate morsels, spoon the batter into 24 muffin cups

9. if you are using chocolate morsels, add 1/2 cup chocolate morsels to the batter, and spoon the batter into 24 muffin cups

10. if you are adding chocolate to half the recipe as we did, spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups, then add 1/4 cup chocolate to the remaining batter, and spoon the remaining batter into 12 more muffin cups.

11. bake at 345 for 22-24 minutes in the upper half of the oven, or until the tops spring back when pressed lightly with a brave finger.

12. use them to bribe your husband to clean up his room.