Vegan Buttermilk Banana Cake

For those of you lucky assistants and friends that were at Adam's going away cookout, you probably got to try my non-vegan buttermilk cake. Well this is not the recipe for that and here is why - that milk and butter gives me a tummy ache! Plus I really want to learn to bake vegan - so I took the recipe I used for the non-vegan cake and made it vegan. Voila, the results!

My biggest concern in making this cake vegan was replacing the egg. Lets face it - those little guys do the job right. But! I read that you can use a banana and it will do mostly the same thing (comes out a bit denser but you will never hear me complain about a dense cake), but of course it will add the taste of banana. Well lucky me, I love bananas. I make banana bread like...like I love bananas.

Vegan Buttermilk Banana Cake

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (its almost healthy this way!)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted vegan butter spread, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 small banana, mashed well
1/2 cup vanilla soy buttermilk (almost a half cup of vanilla soy milk plus the juice of half a lemon - let sit for a minute)
1 cup vegan chocolate chips or carob chips
raw sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan, or a loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and the salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar together (cream it - in baking terms) with an electric mixer until it's fluffy. Add the banana, mix. With the mixer on low, beat in 1/3 of the flour. Add half the buttermilk. Beat in another 1/4 of the flour. Add the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour. Mix until just combine. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spoon.
3. Scrape it into your prepared dish of choice and smooth the top. Scatter a small handful of raw sugar on top (or some fresh strawberries! I didn't have any).
4. Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick comes out clean (25 to 30 minutes). Cool in the pan 10 minutes then put it on a wire rack.

Banana Chocolate Chip Brownies

I've made these brownies several times now (with much success) but have never posted about them because...well gosh, brownies are like the hardest thing to photograph. But finally I just decided to post it anyhow.



I've been making so many banana treats lately that people must be getting sick of them but I never do! I have to hide my bananas though because people keep eating them thinking Im going to let them rot/throw them away.

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (divided)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 small very ripe banana, mashed

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F Butter a 9 inch square pan or a loaf pan (thats all I have but it makes nice thick brownies!).
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aide.
3. In a small saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Immediately remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Blend in vanilla. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl and cool slightly. With a whisk or fork, beat one egg at a time in a small bowl then blend it into the mixture. Blend in mashed banana, then flour mixture. Fold in remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips save a few to throw on top. Spread in pan. Throw the reserved chocolate chips on top.
4. Bake about 45 minutes or until a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool completely in pan.

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

We love bananas in this household but some always end up getting too ripe (even for me) so then I make yummy treats with them and everyone at work tells me how great I am. Its awesome! As usual..these are totally easy and dont require a big mixer or anything too fancy.




Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 small bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Set your oven to 350. Line your cupcake pan with liners or use those neat little silicone ones (reusable! woot! save the planet!)
2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In food processor (or by hand..I didnt mess with the f.p. despite loving it) blend banana and buttermilk until the banana is broken up. Let me tell you a little thing about buttermilk also..don't waste your money buying a whole carton of it. Measure out some milk to very close to 1/4 of a cup, then fill the rest with lemon juice and let it sit for a few minutes. Its the same thing. Little tips. Im full of them.
3. Combine banana mix with eggs, veggie oil and vanilla. Fold the dry mix into the wet mix.
4. Scoop into muffin tins (or a loaf pan if you're too lazy for cucpakes) and bake for 20-25 mins. (Note..I dont really bake by a timer. I just keep checking and pressing them until they are done, and by pressing I mean I push it and if it springs back its ready..if it sinks in its not...so 20 minutes could be an exaggeration)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

6oz or 3/4 package cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick room temperature butter
2-4 cups powdered sugar

1. Combine cream cheese, vanilla and butter. Beat until creamy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar. Add 2-3 more cups until the desired consistency is reached. (I did like 2 and a half).

Let me just tell you, this makes a lot of icing. So what I did was I made a batch of cupcakes and then I made a loaf of cake. So..if you want you could double the cupcake recipe and do the same. Or just eat the icing..its so good.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Its been a while since I posted any food related items. To be honest, I haven't been cooking with quite the same gusto as I used to, but I miss it so Im going to try to make more stuff. I tried a new recipe last week, it was a mac and cheese casserole with cauliflower and mustard in it...not a hit in our household. Luckily I was able to pass if off to the guys at work but it was a sad affair, cutting all that cauliflower only to have it taste exactly like mustard (not a fan of mustard by the way but i was trying to "expand").
Anywho! This banana bread actually turned out just right. Brian has been bugging me to make this for like...2 months now? So i finally did. I've never been a huge fan of banana bread...alright lets be honest I thought it was totally yucky - i dont eat nuts - but I knew it would make Brian happy and thus myself so I gave in and made it finally.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (this much sugar always makes me cringe and salivate simultaneously)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
whole darn bag of chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. With a wooden spoon mix the butter in to the mashed bananas in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture then mix in. Add the Flour and mix.
3. Pour into buttered loafpan (8x4 or 9x5). Bake approximately one hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack and then remove from pan to slice and serve.

That's it. Super super easy and well worth it :)