Vegan Dessert Bread with Bananas and Berries

Hello,

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe here. I've been trying to keep the blog mostly about my illustration work, but since I got quite a positive response when I posted images of this dessert on my Facebook and Twitter profiles, I decided to upload the recipe. It's based on a banana bread recipe, but quite heavily modified. I'm not even sure what to to call this creation, but it was tasty, soft, and moist.

Moist Vegan Dessert Bread with Bananas and Berries

Ingredients:

Wet:

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 whole bananas)*

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup margarine (plus a little extra for greasing)

1/3 cup of almond milk*

1/3 cup of fresh blueberries

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 tablespoon ground almonds (optional)*

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

2-3 large strawberries

1 fresh fig

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Grease a 9 inch diameter round pan with a little bit of margarine and sprinkle it with a little bit of sugar. Feel free to use a 9x5 inch pan instead, or any other kind that holds a similar amount of volume.

2. In a large bowl, cream the margarine and sugar together until smooth. Mash the bananas and add them to the mix, along with the almond milk and the vanilla extract. Lastly, gently stir in the blueberries.

3. In a different bowl mix together the dry ingredients. I recommend using a whisk for combining these together because it seems that with this method, baked goods turn out more soft and fluffy.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bowl and gently blend them together, until just combined. I prefer to use a fork for this, so as not to over-mix the batter. Pour the mixture into your pan and prepare to decorate!

5. Thinly slice up the strawberries and figs, and arrange them on top of the batter in whichever way you like. You can of course use other fruits or berries (like plums, apricots, peaches, blackberries, raspberries, etc.) to fancy up your baked creation.

6. Bake at 350F (180 C) for 45-50 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean) on the middle rack of the oven. If the bread is baked through but top looks too pale to you – place the pan on to the top rack and turn on the broiler for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool for 10-15 minutes. Then, remove it from the pan and enjoy!

Notes:

*If you don’t like bananas, you can also substitute puree from a different fresh fruit.

*Any other milk you prefer will also work for this recipe

*The tablespoon of ground almonds is optional because it doesn’t significantly change the flavour of the bread, but I swear that adding a little ground almonds to my recipes gives my muffins, breads, and cakes a more pleasant texture.

 

Happy Baking!