Homemade Snack Cake Recipes

April Harris from The 21rst Century Housewife is sharing two delicious, homemade recipes for snack cakes: Chocolate and Banana Snack Cake and Carrot, Walnut and Ginger Snack Cake.

When I was a kid growing up in Canada, Betty Crocker marketed a cake mix called ‘Snackin Cake’. It was a moist cake that you served without frosting. One of the ‘modern time savers’ of the late 1970‘s and early 80‘s, if I recall correctly the box even contained a handy disposable baking pan you could cook the mix in. The cake had a bread-like texture similar to a loaf cake and it became a real cult favorite.

I wanted to develop some recipes that were almost as easy to make as the original snackin’ cake, but that were a bit more wholesome and tasted homemade. (Snackin’ Cake tasted amazing, but homemade isn’t a word I would use to describe it – it had a distinctive cake mix flavor to it.) My recipes still have the firm texture of the original, so you can pick it up and eat it in squares if you want to – although eating it with a fork and a side of ice cream works really well too! I have used mostly store-cupboard ingredients so these recipes are easy to whip up at a moment’s notice. I did use buttermilk because I like the flavor it gives the cakes, but ordinary milk will work just fine if it is all you have on hand.

The whole idea of snackin’ cake was that you could make and bake it quickly, and possibly even eat it warm, but do let it cool a little before you try to cut it up or it will fall to pieces. And yes, warm with ice cream is very, very good!

Chocolate and Banana Snack Cake

Ingredients:

1¾ cups flour
¼ cup cocoa
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup white sugar
2 generous pinches of salt
½ cup chocolate chips
1 egg, lightly beaten
⅓ cup sunflower oil
1 cup buttermilk or milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 mashed bananas

Directions:

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, salt and chocolate chips.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg, oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir in the mashed bananas.

Add the egg and milk and banana mixture to the flour mixture. Stir thoroughly until well blended, but don’t beat. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured (or lined) nine-inch square pan.

Bake at about 350℉ or 170℃ for 25 to 30 minutes or until a skewer or piece of dry spaghetti inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and serve from the pan. If you cool it completely before serving, you might want to dust it with a bit of confectioner’s sugar for decoration.

Carrot, Walnut and Ginger Snack Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 generous teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon crystallised ginger, very finely chopped (optional)
3/4 cup to 1 cup chopped walnuts (or other chopped nuts)
1 cup grated carrot
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup sunflower oil (mild olive oil, corn or canola oil works too)
1 cup buttermilk or milk
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Measure the flours, sugar, baking powder, ginger, crystallised ginger (if using), carrots and walnuts into a large bowl and stir to mix.

Beat the egg, oil, buttermilk and vanilla in a medium bowl.

Add the egg and milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir thoroughly until well blended. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured (or lined) nine-inch square pan.

Bake at about 350℉ or 170℃ for 25 to 30 minutes or until a skewer or piece of dry spaghetti inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and serve from the pan.

April Harris’ mission is to empower women, whatever their career, to be the very best they can be. She is particularly focused on inspiring housewives to develop and grow within their role and as individuals. As well as being the resource for modern housewives,  The 21rst Century Housewife provides inspiration for anyone who loves food, cooking, entertaining, fashion, travel and the finer things in life. April also writes The 21st Century Housewife’s Kitchen, a food and travel blog.

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday.