A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook for a recipe that looked sort of irresistible (if you like bananas): 5 Ingredient Banana Cake. So, at about 10 minutes to 9:00 p.m. tonight (Friday), I asked Charles to run down to the 7-11 below our apartment to pick up 4-5 bananas (coincidentally, the only fresh fruit that 7-11 keeps in stock). Charles sweetly obliged after questioning my sanity (Charles: You’re going to bake this now? Me: Yes, sweetheart. It takes 20 minutes to bake, and it has only five ingredients!).

Now the catch is that this cake is supposed to be gluten/sugar/dairy-free. Because I don’t have the listed ingredients in my kitchen, I had to use regular old substitutes like white flour instead of almond flour and refined sugar instead of coconut sugar (as an optional topping). I’m just hoping that it will still be tasty with my substitutions.

While I’m writing this, the cake is baking in my mini-oven. In about five minutes, it will be finished. The recipe says it’s good to eat hot right from the oven, so Charles and I will be sampling it shortly. If it is a flop, no harm done since none of the ingredients were particularly expensive. If it’s a success, then I have a new, easy, delicious recipe to add to my cookbook. I’ll be back in just a few minutes…

* * * * *

And the verdict is in: success!

Okay, so mine doesn’t look quite the same as theirs (I added “too much” sugar on top, so it didn’t caramelize, but it still adds just a bit of sweetness that’s perfect), but I think it tastes pretty good. The recipe called for very ripe bananas, but the ones I used were just mildly ripe. It would be sweeter and have a better flavor if I used riper bananas. Otherwise, I think this is a tasty little treat, probably best as a breakfast bread.

If you try this recipe, let me know how yours turns out.