Paleo Prebiotic Banana Breakfast Cake (Single-Serve)

Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day… and this prebiotic breakfast cake is a biiiig reason why. Who doesn’t want a fluffy banana cake all to themselves in the morning?!

Prebiotic Cake! For Breakfast!

Cake for breakfast is something that needs to happen more in my life… says every human ever. LOL.

Although there’s a time and place (aka your birthday or something) for eating the real-deal sugar-filled piece of cake, its no secret that the aftermath of doing that on the daily would be interesting. No thanks to the tummy aches and sleepy sugar crashes on a busy Tuesday.

This banana cake however is NOT ONLY sweet, fluffy, and delicious but its also packed with prebiotic fiber and made without any added sugar! Talk about the perfect breakfast!

Green Banana Benefits

The term “prebiotic” refers to anything that can’t be digested by our own bodies and makes it down to our colon to be metabolized by the good bacteria (probiotics) in our gut. Prebiotics are traditionally known to be complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber, a 2017 study by Gibson and others found that polyphenols and some polyunsaturated fatty acids can also act to support the probiotics living in our gut.

Link: ISAPP consensus statement on the Definition and Scope of Prebiotics (Gibson and others, 2017)

Resistant Starch is a complex carbohydrate that is known to support a special class of butyrate producing bacteria, which help reduce inflammation, reduce the risk of colon cancer, and prevent the onset of metabolic syndrome/obesity (Cockburn and others, 2020). One of the most potent food sources of resistant starch is green banana flour! Or green bananas too of course, but despite the benefits those tend to not taste too great.

Even though green banana flour sounds ~exotic~ it’s actually super easy to find and also really easy to bake with too!

Baking with Bananas

Bananas are one of my favorite healthy ingredients to have on hand for baking. Ripe bananas are an incredible natural sweetener to use in place of processed refined sugar. Green banana flour is also a great way to use bananas as a grain-free flour!

Green banana flour tends to soak up more liquid/water than almond flour or a traditional wheat flour does, but once I got the hang of how to compensate for that, I’ve found myself using it frequently. It’s also super easy to disguise the bitter flavor that green bananas can have with other flavors!

In terms of HOW I use it, I prefer to use green banana flour in no-bake recipes to get the full benefits of the gut-healthy resistant starch. Once you bake resistant starch or expose it to heat, some of it gets broken down or gelatinized and doesn’t make it down to our colon during digestion. With that said, I still use it in a few of my baked treats since it still retains at least some of the “native” form of resistant starch. Either way, its a fun gluten-free, grain-free ingredient to have on hand!

What You’ll Need:

How to Make a Single-Serve Breakfast Cake:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a mini cast iron skillet with coconut oil. Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl until a smooth batter forms.

Step 2: Transfer the batter into the mini cast iron skillet. (Optional) Slice the other half of the banana into coins and place on top of the batter before baking.

Step 3: Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Add toppings (I like plain Greek Yogurt, a good natural drizzley peanut butter, and cocoa nibs) and enjoy warm!

More of My Favorite Single-Serve Breakfasts:

• Paleo Microwave Muffin
• Grain-Free Cheesy Strawberry Biscuits
• Chocolate Chip Chickpea Waffle
• Paleo Lemon Beetroot Mug Cake
• Air Fried Grain-Free Bagel

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