12 servings 4 Better Balance Bites/Blue Points
Calories 239 Fat 2.9g Sat. Fat 1.1g Protein 4.2g Carbs 80.1g Fiber 4.7g Sugars 18.1g
16 servings 3 Better Balance Bites/Blue Points
Calories 179 Fat 2.2g Sat. Fat 0.8g Protein 3.1g Carbs 60g Fiber 3.5g Sugars 13.6g
Ingredients
Fruit Base
· Cooking spray
· 16 oz. frozen strawberries (see notes)
· 1/4 cup sugar replacement
· 2 Tbsp cornstarch
· Pinch salt
· 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple in juice (see notes)
· 3 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2” slices
· 42g (about 1/4 cup) sugar-free chocolate chips (see notes)
Cake
· 2 1/4 cups flour (see notes)
· 1 1/2 cups sugar replacement
· 1/4 cup cornstarch
· 1 Tbsp baking powder
· 1 tsp salt
· 1/4 tsp nutmeg, optional
· 2 overripe bananas, mashed(see notes)
· 3 Tbsp light butter, melted (I use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light)
· 1 egg, lightly beaten
· 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the strawberries, sugar replacement, cornstarch, and salt over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the strawberries have thawed and softened, mash them into the sauce. Continue to cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.
3. While the strawberries are cooking down, strain the crushed pineapple in a fine-mesh sieve set over a large measuring cup or bowl. With a spoon or spatula, press on the pineapple to extract as much juice as you can. Stir the drained pineapple into the strawberry sauce and set aside 1 cup of its juice.
4. Lay out the banana slices in the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the banana slices. Pour the strawberry sauce on top and spread evenly. Spoon on the drained pineapple and smooth out into an even layer. Set the pan aside as you prepare the cake.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar replacement, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. (see notes)
6. In another bowl, combine the mashed bananas and the 1 cup of reserved pineapple juice. Whisk in the melted light butter, the egg, and the vanilla.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and, using a spoon or spatula, gently stir together until just combined. Pour this over the fruit base, carefully spreading it evenly on top so as to disturb the fruit layer as little as possible.
8. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool completely on a cooling rack before serving. To serve, cut the cake into slices in the pan and, when putting it onto a plate, flip it so the fruit base is now on top. (see notes) Serve with light whipped cream, whipped topping, a dusting of powdered sugar, ice cream, or as is.
Notes
· While strawberry sauce is traditional on a banana split, you could use frozen cherries in place of the strawberries.
· Fresh strawberries would also work for the sauce.
· You can prepare JUST the strawberry sauce to be used on cakes, pancakes, waffles, or ice cream.
· You could use pineapple tidbits in place of the crushed, but I don’t suggest using chunks unless you chop them into smaller pieces.
· The pineapple juice in the cake is added with bites/points. HOWEVER, most fruit juices have bites/points since they do not have to be “broken down” in digestion. Since this is part of a cake, I personally don’t think you need to count them, but I did for this recipe.
· If you replace the chocolate chips with a sugar-free syrup, you could lower the bites, points, and calories.
· The dry ingredients in the cake are the ingredients for my Homemade Cake Mix, so if you have that on hand, you can replace them with that. If you use a box cake mix, that will affect the bites, points, and calories. Since I didn’t test with a box cake mix, it could also affect the texture.
· If your bananas are not ripe enough, you can “ripen” them quickly in a 300°F oven by placing them, peel intact, on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet and bake them anywhere from 15-30 minutes, depending on how ripe you need them. For mashing, the skins should be blackened. You can also do this at the same temperature in an air fryer, but it will take less time, anywhere from 8-15 minutes. I don’t recommend microwaving because the sugars have no time to develop.
· If you have a platter large enough, you can turn this whole cake out onto the platter so you won’t need to flip each piece as you serve it.
