Vegan Cocoa Banana Bread

I've never been a big fan of banana bread. Either it was too  mushy, too dry or falling apart. I never got it right, until now! A foolproof, easy to adapt recipe, that yields a cute and yummy banana bread. Mine didn't last very long, everyone that walked by it, had to take a piece, so it was gone almost too fast. Now I have to wait until my bananas are overripe.... ;)

Vegan Cocoa Banana Bread

makes 1 small loaf

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas

1 Tbsp. canola oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. maple syrup

2 tsp. baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 cup + 2 Tbsp. spelt flour

1 cup chopped nuts

2 dried figs, chopped

1 - 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder 

Preheat oven to 175°C. Mash up the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl. Add oil, sugar, baking powder, maple syrup and salt and mix well. Add the flour and mix, the dough should be relatively thick. Now add the nuts and figs, and seperate the dough in 2 bowls. To one you add the cocoa powder. Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper and put both doughs in and slightly mix them to get the marble effect. Lastly press in some whole pecan nuts on top of the dough mixture and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean. Remove the banana bread from the pan and let it cool completely on a cooling rack.

 Enjoy, Florence

 

Pumpkin Pie Layer Cake

 

I had the idea of creating my perfect vegan birthday cake. Since it was almost beginning of fall, and I like to argue that my birthday (17 september) is already in fall, pumpkin seemed ideal! So coincidentally I stumbled upon the idea of using a crustless pumpkin pie as cupcake frosting and it struck me - why not create a vegan pumpkin pie filling? 

And so it happened, and my vegan birthday pumpkin pie layer cake was born!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Layer Cake

This cake requires you to plan and make some things ahead (the day before).

   

• 4 Vanilla-Pumpkin-Layers
• Homemade Dulce De Leche
• Pumpkin Pie Filling
• Whipped Frosting

Vanilla-Pumpkin Layer

this makes 2 layers, so please bake this twice to get the 4 layers.

230 gr spelt flour

100 gr sugar

240 ml sparkling mineral water
40 ml canola oil
1 sachet baking powder
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 heaping Tbsp. pumpkin puree (optional)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 160°C. Mix all ingredients for 5 minutes with a hand mixer, slowly pouring the sparkling mineral water in last. Next grease a 20cm round pan. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper, this will make it easier getting the cake out of the pan to cool. 
Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until the top is slightly brown and a knife inserted comes out clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then cut the cake in 2 layers and let them cool completely on a cooling rack. 

Dulce de Leche
Recipe from seitan is my motor .
I used about 3/4 of the batch I made.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

340 gr silken tofu

450 gr pumpkin puree

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp gingerbread spice

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

80 ml canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 Tbsp apple syrup (or molasses)

250 gr soy yoghurt (drained overnight)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Combine all ingredients (except soy yoghurt) in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Pour into a greased baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the edges start to get brown. Let the pie cool completely before putting it into a large mixing bowl. Add the drained soy yoghurt and mix thoroughly with a wisk until smooth. 

Whipped Frosting

250 gr soy yoghurt (drained overnight)

500 gr soy whipping cream

2 sachets vanilla sugar

2 sachets of whipping cream stabiliser

1 pinch salt

Beat together the soy whipping cream, sugar, salt and 1 sachet of whipping cream stabiliser until peaks form. Then slowly add the soy yoghurt and the remaining sachet of whipping cream stabiliser and beat for 1 minute. 

 

Notes:

•  You can use your favourite pumpkin pie recipe, but mixing it with the drained soy yoghurt gives the filling the desired creaminess.
• Next time I'm gonna add more of the soy yoghurt to the frosting to make it even yummier and creamy!

In the end I was really pleased how this cake turned out, it tasted even better on the second day! The only thing I regret is not taking pictures in better light... but well, life stepped in and hindered me.

If there are any questions regarding the recipe, please ask, I'll be glad to answer! :)

Florence

Brownies!

I have been on the long journey of finding the perfect vegan brownie recipe for the last 9 months! I've had ones with banana, silken tofu, applesauce, cacao powder or melted chocolate... but not until now a recipe was worth posting or even mentioning! These brownies turned out wonderfully chocolatey and fudgey, yet not too moist! What is your perfect vegan brownie recipe? I really look forward to my further journey to vegan brownie heaven....

Vegan Brownies

 adapted from Alien's Day Out

 

Ingredients:

2 cups spelt flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 Tbs instant coffee powder
1 cup water
1,5 Tbs ground flax seeds
2 cups organic unrefined sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, pecan nuts 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 °C. Prepare your baking pan by lining it out with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and coffee powder together in a large bowl. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, add about 1/4 cup of the water and the ground flax seeds. Whisk until it gets thick and gooey, this may take some time. I started with 1 Tbs of ground flax seeds and added at least 1/2 Tbs in the process.  Add the rest of the water, along with the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk well.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until everything is almost all incorporated. Then fold in in the nuts. For my taste, the more the better!
5. Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle more chopped nuts on top, next time I'll use even more, they turn absolutely delicious while baking.

6. Bake in oven for about 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let it rest about 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

Notes: I didn't have coffee extract, so I substituted with the instant coffee powder, which gave the brownies a nice and subtle coffee taste and brings out the chocolate flavour even more. 

Plum-Blueberry-Rolls

This should be a warning! Once you've made this incredibely tasty, not overly-sweet yeast rolls with a rich plum-blueberry-filling with just the faintest hint of fresh rosemary, your friends/family are going to force you to make more and more (preferably with varying fillings)!

And let's not forget the homemade vegan Dulce de Leche! It is so good you are going to try spreading it on everything you're eating!  

Well, maybe that's just me then..... :)

Vegan Plum-Blueberry-Rolls with homemade vegan Dulce de Leche

all credit goes to seitan is my motor ! I'm glad I was able to hold back and don't change the recipe, as it turned out so deliciously!

I really recommend this recipe, and generally seitan is my motor, there are loads of great and easy vegan recipes waiting for you!

Florence