It was about time I tackled a grain and refined sugar-free loaf and my favourite has always been banana so a banana loaf it was. This was an experiment, using all the knowledge I have so far gained about these new products and how they work as opposed to ordinary flour, butter and sugar. I adjusted as I went and the recipe below is the result. This loaf has worked really well and tastes great. I made a coconut cream topping to go with it in case it was dry but it wasn’t bad at all. Oh, and I have used coconut sugar for the first time instead of honey or date puree. It gives a great, almost caramel flavour. Coconut sugar is a natural product made from the nectar of the coconut palm tree and doesn’t put stress on your blood sugar levels the same way that white sugar does and retains all its minerals and vitamins. It also has an extremely low glycemic index of 35. But there is some conflicting information on the internet and I am not completely convinced that this is not just another sugar which happens to be less bad than table sugar but I have tried it. If in doubt, use honey instead.
This is NOT a low Fodmap recipe.
I have never used coconut sugar, but I find it very interesting that it might be better than regular sugar. If I bake, I usually use brown sugar or honey. Regardless, I find all sugars doing the same damage to our bodies. I like the way you pull off all these delicious looking cakes without grains, nuts and dairy.
You are right, Frank, about all sugars not being good for us. I still love to have a treat for morning tea at work and I am finding ways to mitigate that damage as much as possible. Hopefully, I am managing that.
I’ve never tried coconut sugar but it sounds delicious!
It’s my first time too and I was pleasantly surprised.
Looks pretty good & your pictures are so good 🙂
Thanks, CJ. The photographing is such a fun part of the process.
Do you buy your coconut sugar and flour at a health food store…I’ve never seen them in our market.
A health store would certainly have it but we have a large store here which sells all sorts of specialty foods and I found it there. I would Google it for your area and see what comes up and maybe ring around a few stores.
I’ve never heard of coconut sugar – I’ll have to look for it. I really do need to read up more on sugars – I know so little about the subject, other than it’s mighty tasty! (Salt, not sugar, is my food weakness, so I’m not too worried about my sugar intake, although maybe I should be.) Anyway, really interest loaf – good work.
Sugar really is quite evil if you read about it – maybe you shouldn’t. LOL. Salt is not good for some people but we do need some. I got cramp in my calf in bed last night and I realised I had had hardly any salt during the day. When I lived in Fiji, we lost a lot of salt through perspiration and I actually had to take salt tablets to stop the muscle cramps I was getting. I remembered that last night when my calf cramped up.
I have some coconut flour leftover from another recipe, and I’ve been wanting to use it in other things. This looks like a perfect option!
Great. Adriano said he wanted me to make it again, he liked it so much.
I’m so happy you’ve posted a recipe I can eat! Due to food allergies, I follow a Paleo diet, which I why I originally subscribed to your blog! No can do on the brown rice flower and the like (aka GAPS diet). Looking forward to making this recipe!
I am glad you have a found a recipe to try. If you want to follow the Paleo diet, I suggest you click on recipes at the top of my blog and then choose the sugar-free recipes. Most of those are Paleo.
You mentioned in this recipe that you use coconut sugar instead Honey but I know that honey is one of the things that Sue Shepherd says to stay away from on the Low Fodmap diet as it is very high in fructose. I am fructose intolerant and I am finding that your recipes are very confusing. Also why do you make your flour from at least four or five ingredients, is it not possible to use spelt flour instead of wheat flour?
A very confused reader!
I understand your confusion. I have had my blog for over two and a half years but I have not been low Fodmap for that long. The recipes from before I discovered the diet are either normal or Paleo since I was Paleo for 3 months while I was trying to discover what was wrong with me. If you have fructose malabsorption, then stick with the recipes you find by going up to the navigation menu at the top of my blog and choose Recipes and then click on the Low Fodmap section. That way you will only find the low Fodmap ones. You can also read about my journey on the About Me page.
It’s in reality a nice and useful piece of info. I am satisfied that you simply shared this useful information with us.
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
When I originally left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me whhen new comments are
added- checkbox and from now on whenever a comment is added I
receive 4 emkails with thee same comment. Perhaps there is a means
you can rsmove me from that service? Many thanks!
That must be annoying. Perhaps when you receive a notification, there will be somewhere that you can unsubscribe from the comment notification. Look out for it, probably near the bottom.