After nearly every school day throughout our childhood, my brother and I walked in from the car, dropped our backpacks next to the kitchen table, and headed straight for the pantry. All of those lectures and tests really worked up our appetites!
Mom typically stocked the shelves with popular kid-friendly snacks, like cheesy Goldfish, sweet fruit snacks, and extra chocolaty chewy Chips Ahoy cookies. She let us pick out whatever we wanted before we pulled out our textbooks and started on homework…
Although she did put a three-cookie limit on that last snack option. She knew we’d be tempted to eat half the package and forget to save room for dinner!
Occasionally, Mom bought boxes of individually wrapped Little Debbie oatmeal crème pies, miniature chocolate cake rolls, and chocolate-dipped cakes with vanilla frosting inside to slip inside our lunches as our daily treat.
On particularly stressful school days, ones with spelling tests followed by quick 3-minute timed multiplication math tests and a book report due on top of that, Mom agreed to let us have one of those extra special treats as our snack as well. Those sugary store-bought desserts always helped alleviate the anxious feelings in our stomachs after school!
Once I reached high school, I switched to slightly more wholesome afternoon snacks, like Triscuits or granola bars. But if I had known about this Healthy Banana Oatmeal Snack Cake, it would’ve been my top choice! With entirely wholesome ingredients and no butter, refined flour or sugar, it’s the perfect healthy “treat” for those afternoon hunger pains—or even first thing in the morning for breakfast!
And with only 101 calories, it comes with none of the guilt of my sugary childhood snacks! ??
This healthy snack cake begins with whole wheat flour (or gluten-free!) and instant oats. Instant oats are also known as “quick-cooking” or “one-minute” oats. They’re not the same thing as what’s sold in those individual flavored brown paper envelopes! Instant oats come in canisters right next to the regular old-fashioned oats at the grocery store. (And you’ll use them in all of these healthy cookie recipes of mine, too!)
It’s extremely important to measure the flour and oats correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. Too much of either will dry out your cake and give it a crumbly texture—especially the oats! They act like little sponges and soak up moisture from your cake batter.
Therefore, I highly recommend a kitchen scale. This is the one I own, and it’s been the best $20 I’ve ever spent! I use it multiple times a day and to make every recipe I publish here on my blog because it ensures my treats turn out with the perfect taste and texture every time.
Now for the most important ingredient… The mashed banana! Be sure to grab the spottiest ones you can find! The ones with more brown color than yellow on their peels will taste much sweeter, which means you’ll only add a few tablespoons of pure maple syrup (be sure you buy the real kind, not pancake syrup or sugar-free syrup!) for sweetness. That’s right—we’re skipping the refined sugar today!
With only 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, the mashed banana provides some of this snack cake’s tender texture, and the rest comes from one of my favorite ingredients in healthier baking: Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture as extra oil or butter for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked treats a protein boost, too!
Snack time! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your cake and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Healthy Banana Oatmeal Snack Cake | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (150g) instant oats (measured like this and gluten-free, if necessary)
- 1 ¼ cups (150g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (264g) mashed banana (about 2 medium)
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (60mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60mL) nonfat milk
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and coat a 9”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg whites, and vanilla. Add in the mashed banana and Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps of yogurt remain. Stir in the maple syrup. Alternate between adding the oat mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the oat mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the oat mixture in 3 equal parts.)
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 26-29 minutes or until the center feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan before slicing and serving.
For the gluten-free flour, I recommend the following blend: ¾ cup (90g) millet flour, ¼ cup (30g) tapioca flour, ¼ cup (30g) brown rice flour, and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends will work as well, if measured like this.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the whole wheat flour.
It’s extremely important to measure the flour and oats correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. Too much of either will dry out your cake and give it a crumbly texture—especially the oats! They act like little sponges and soak up moisture from your cake batter.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the pure maple syrup.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
View Nutrition Information
You may also enjoy Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Banana Bread Protein Overnight Oats
♥ Blueberry Buttermilk Banana Bread
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Chocolate Drizzled Raspberry Banana Bread
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana Mini Muffins
♥ Chocolate Chip Strawberry Banana Bread
♥ Chocolate Chip Banana Bran Muffins
♥ Blueberry Banana Bran Muffins
Hi Amy 🙂
I love love love love loveeeeeeeee this recipe!! Everything about it speaks HEALTHY ! It’s by far one of the best recipes I’ve ever tried. I enjoy looking at all your recipes, they’re all so yummy :))
Thanks !!
You’re so sweet Lulu — thank you very much!! That means the world to me that you’d call it one of the best recipes you’ve ever tried! What a huge compliment!! 🙂 I’m so excited to hear what recipe of mine you try next!
Could I substitute unrefined coconut sugar for the maple syrup? If so, how much would you recommend?
Yes! You’ll need ¼ cup of coconut sugar + an additional 2 tablespoons of milk in place of the maple syrup. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this snack cake Michele!
This cake looks so good and so easy to make! Definitely try this soon ♥
I’m so excited to hear what you think of it Natalie! 🙂
This turned out AMAZING!!! My brother already finished the whole entire cake which means it was just that good!! I added walnuts in there for the extra crunch and taste and my oh my. Definitely doing this again.
I’m so glad you and your brother enjoyed this snack cake Nour! That means so much to me that you want to make it again. What a huge compliment — thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
Hi Amy, I would like to make this recipe for a birthday cake. What size do you think the cake will be with this amount of ingredients? Thank you!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Carolina! Just to clarify — this cake isn’t as sweet as dessert cakes. It has the sweetness level of muffins. (Just didn’t want you to bake it as a birthday cake and end up surprised by that!) I’m not quite sure what you mean by the size of this cake. Are you trying to use a different cake pan than the size called for in the instructions? 🙂
Oh sorry! I skip the part where you give the cake size pan haha. I know it won’t be sweet as normal cake, it’s for my two year old son, for his birthday. Thank you!
No worries Carolina! I’m glad that was such an easy question to answer. 😉 I’m truly honored that you’d want to make my recipe to celebrate such a special occasion! That’s such an amazing compliment — thank you! 🙂 Happy birthday to your son! I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of this cake!
Hi Amy!
Going to try your recipe out tonight. Could I add a tablespoon or two of chia seeds into the batter? Will I need to up the liquid? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you for the lovely recipe. ♡
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Kimi! Yes, you can probably add a tablespoon or two of chia seeds to the batter. Try adding an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk because they tend to absorb lots of liquid. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this snack cake!
How can I omit the maple syrup? More banana or applesauce?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Alexis! Unfortunately, neither banana or applesauce is sweet enough, and this snack cake would turn out pretty bland. What’s your preferred sweetener? We may be able to make that work instead! 🙂
These are SO good. Moist, tasty and filling. A great treat and alternative to my morning oatmeal. I had to freeze them so I’d stop eating them! Exceeded expectations. Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this snack cake, Jenna! That’s the best kind of compliment if you had to freeze it — thanks so much for sharing that with me! 🙂
Hi, this looks fab. Do you think I would be able to add chocolate chips or cocoa to the mix? Would I need to change anything to compensate?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Lois! You can easily add chocolate chips to the batter without making any changes. If you’d like to add cocoa powder to the batter, then subtract an equal amount of flour. (For example, if you add ¼ cup of cocoa powder, then reduce the flour to 1 cup.) Does that make sense? 🙂 I can’t wait to hear how your snack cake turns out!
Hi Amy,
First time baking a healthier cake and this tasted really good! I added some honey drizzled on top to add some extra sweetness 🙂
Just wanted to ask, some of the oats were not cooked through, had some white flakes in my sponge. Did I not cook long enough or is that from my mixing? I tested the cake batter and toothpick came out clean so not sure where I went wrong.
Thanks
I’m so glad you enjoyed this snack cake Mary! That means a lot to me. 🙂 Was the whole snack cake cooked through (not raw in the middle), and some of the oats just weren’t incorporated and dry? Did you use instant oats or old-fashioned oats that you “converted” to instant oats? We should be able to figure out why with those bits of information!
Yes snack cake was cooked through, toothpick came out clean and I used quick oats. I doubled the recipe to make a bigger batch, maybe that was the problem too…
Thanks for the info, Mary! Yes, doubling the recipe could’ve played into it. Since the snack cake was fully baked through and not raw in the middle, you’re probably right in that the oats weren’t fully incorporated due to the mixing. Did you use an electric or stand mixer, or did you mix by hand with a fork? Did the oats look fully incorporated in your batter? 🙂
I used a spatula to mix by hand, so probably I didn’t mix enough. I just did not want to over work the mix, so maybe I thought they were incorporated, but it may have not. Thanks for advice, will make sure to mix better next time 🙂
It’s my pleasure Mary! I’m always happy to help! 🙂 Instead of a spatula, use a fork for stirring next time! The separation between the tines of the fork allow for the batter to mix more than with a solid spatula, so if you use the same gentle folding motion as with a spatula, the oats should be better incorporated without overmixing the batter. Does that make sense?