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!

Plum Cake

While I'm completing some art, why don't I share a dessert I've made a couple of weeks ago. This is a recipe which I modified from my mom's recipe, and it's a perfect one to celebrate the start of the autumn season.

I give you - Plum Cake!

I also tossed some blueberries in :)

Plum Cake

Ingredients:

- 3-4 large eggs

- ½ cup of sugar

- 2/3 cup white flour

- 1/3 cup of whole wheat flour

- 10-12 small plums

- 1 tablespoon of almond butter

- 1 teaspoon of baking powder

- 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

- ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- ½ teaspoon of lemon juice

- pinch of salt

-unsalted margarine for greasing

- bread crumbs for greasing

Directions:

1: Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the pie pan with some unsalted margarine and dust it with some bread crumbs.

2: Slice the plums. Set the sliced fruit aside in a bowl. Feel free to add any other stone fruit, like apricots into the mix too – it’ll be delicious! This time I thought I’d add some blueberries.

3: Pour the sugar in a large bowl and whisk it together with the eggs using a mixer on low speed until the two are well combined. Add the almond butter, a pinch of salt, lemon juice, and vanilla, then mix for a few more minutes at a medium speed.

4: In a smaller bowl combine the cinnamon, flour, baking powder and lemon zest. Now, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, a little bit at a time, while the mixer is at a low speed. Mix until the batter looks creamy and smooth.

5: Pour about half of the batter into the baking pan. Arrange about half of the sliced plums on top of the batter, and set the rest aside to decorate the top. Pour the remaining batter as evenly as possible over the fruit. Finally, take the last of the fruit and arrange them nicely on top.

6: Cook for 30-35 minutes at 350F until the top is lightly golden. Check to make sure the pie is baked by taking a tooth pick, bamboo skewer, or knife and piercing through the middle of the pie. If it comes out clean, then the dessert is ready. However, give the cake some time too cool before attempting to take it out. If it’s too warm, it will stick to the sides and break as it comes out.

Enjoy! It pairs perfectly with tea :)