I know, I know, bananas are not usually low carb diet approved, but stick with me here OK?
I recently found myself in possession of several bunches of bananas that were turning all spotty and brown faster than they would realistically get eaten.
Mr. Hungry likes them, but Hungry Jr. recently decided he hates bananas because of the strings that sometimes come off of the sides. No matter that I pull them off for him, he’s annoyingly firm in his resolve to abstain.
Now that only one of us was going to be eating the rapidly deteriorating bananas, I knew I’d have to freeze some or they’d end up in the compost heap.
Back in the day that wouldn’t have been an issue, because I’d make banana bread or smoothies with the frozen bananas so they wouldn’t last long.
Since I went low carb though, I rarely use bananas anymore and didn’t want them taking up valuable real estate in my shoebox-sized freezer. So I decided to see if I could make them into a low carb mug cake.
I modified the recipe for the popular chocolate brownie mug cake, and the bananas and almond butter made for a nice soft texture – it was quite tasty! An unexpected bonus is that since these are sweetened by the banana, there is no need to add extra sweetener (though you could if you wanted to,) making them Paleo friendly as well!
Other than the banana slice garnish, which is totally optional, this entire low carb mug cake recipe only contains 1/3 cup mashed bananas. It’s packed with banana flavor, but with not as many carbs as you would imagine.
So if you love the taste of bananas like I do, you can rejoice that they are back on the menu (in moderation of course.)
This recipe makes 4 good sized banana almond mug cakes which can be microwaved in paper baking cups, small mugs, or ramekins.
The whipped cream and banana garnish are optional and not included in the nutrition information.
Banana Almond Mug Cake (Low Carb and Gluten Free)
- Yield: 4 cakes 1x
Description
A low carb and gluten free banana almond mug cake recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1 Tbsp almond butter
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp coconut flour
Instructions
- Melt the butter. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spoon into 4 greased ramekins or paper baking cups. Place all four cups on a plate at once. Microwave for 90 seconds. Serve warm with optional whipped cream and banana slices.
Notes
Approximate nutrition info per cake: 168 calories, 15g fat, 5g net carbs, 5g protein
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cake
Christine says
350° Convey toaster oven for 15 minutes perfect so moist so delicious !
Christine says
Making this now, exactly like the recipe with the exception of I’m baking them in the oven will let you know shortly how they turn out
Mary says
I don’t know if you will see this but I am so confused. I have redone/revised this recipe a million times and I cannot get the calorie count you have listed. With just the butter, almond butter and flour, 4 cakes come out to around 129 calories a piece (that’s not adding eggs and banana). Don’t get me wrong. These little babies are delicious. But I just can’t get close to your calorie count. What am I missing? Help!!!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thank you for catching that Mary! A few months ago I hired someone to go back and update old posts with nutrition info and I never caught this typo! I fixed it now and appreciate your letting me know!!!
Candy says
Just made this for dinner, lovely! I made it with almond meal as I didn’t have flour but still came out great! (oops just realised I forgot the vanilla essence) oh well was still good. cheers