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Vegan Banana Bread Recipe

Hands up if you love banana bread! I do. I’ve never attempted to bake it myself, but with all the time on my hands during lockdown, I thought I’d give it a shot. And this vegan banana bread recipe is perfect.

Vegan Banana Bread

We’re not vegan, but I’m always on the hunt for recipes that don’t include eggs and dairy – like our favourite chocolate cake. I hate baking yummy treats when Cara can’t enjoy them with us. If you have someone in your family with a dairy and/or egg allergy, give this recipe a try. Oh, and most importantly… it’s super easy and quick to bake.

I found this recipe last week on Veg Recipes of India and it turned out to be an absolute winner. It was very sweet (not complaining!), so next time I’ll try it with a little less sugar.

Vegan Banana Bread

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium sized over ripe bananas
  • 1½ cups of flour
  • ½ cup of coconut oil
  • ½ cup of sugar (or less if your bananas are super sweet)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence 
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • pinch of salt

The original recipe offers alternatives to the above.

Step 1: Finely mash the bananas and mix with the sugar.

Vegan Banana Bread

Step 2: Add the oil and mix well.

Step 3: Stir in the cinnamon and vanilla essence.

Vegan Banana Bread

Step 4: Add the dry ingredients.

Vegan Banana Bread

Step 5: Fold in the dry ingredients until mixed evenly.

Vegan Banana Bread

Step 6: Pour the batter into a greased bread tin and bake at 180ºC for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean.

Vegan Banana Bread

Step 7: ENJOY!!!

Let me know if you try this recipe. We’ll be baking this delicious vegan banana bread again and again.

xoxo

PS. If you have eggless and dairy free recipes of other yummy baked goodies, please share!

 

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The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan

If you don’t eat cake, I don’t think we can be friends. Kidding! Not really ;) Today I want to share with you the BEST chocolate cake recipe EVER! And it’s vegan.

Cara is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts. It sounds a little more hectic than it actually is. Or maybe we’re just so used to it that it’s easy to get around it.

Cake isn’t always that easy though. We often bake muffins and cupcakes and then we substitute the eggs with bananas and use soy milk if the recipes calls for it (read: if it says add milk on the packet).

The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan

A proper cake is a different story. Then I remembered that we used to bake an AMAZING chocolate cake when I was a kid (thanks Tannie Elmari!). And it contained no eggs and no dairy! Yay for being vegan/vegetarian friendly.

I did a little search on the web and found similar recipes (this one is still the best!) and learnt that this cake is also called Depression Cake (the recipe originates from the Great Depression when eggs and dairy were a luxury), Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake. I just call it the yummiest and easiest cake in the world.

Chocolate Crazy Cake

The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan

Ingredients:

  • 750 ml flour
  • 20 ml baking powder
  • 500 ml sugar
  • 80 ml cocoa powder
  • 500 ml boiled water
  • 250 ml cooking oil
  • 10 ml vanilla essence
  • 50 ml white vinegar*
  • 5 ml bicarbonate of soda

*Not all white vinegar is vegan! I have seen white vinegar substituted with apple cider vinegar, but I have yet to try it. I’d love some vegan advice!

Pop over here for a handy conversions table from Huletts.

Steps:

Sift and mix the dry ingredients (excluding the bicarb) in a large bowl.

Mix the wet ingredients & bicarb in a separate bowl.

Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk lightly until completely combined and there are no lumps.

Bake in a greased dish at 180º for about 20 min.

The one I use is an approx 33cm x 25cm / 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking dish. It’s the ‘bakpan’ that came with the oven (damn, I think I’m ready for the Great SA Bake Off!).  If you know more about baking than I do, and I’m sure you do, you’ll now what to use. Trick: if the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, it’s perfect.

And there you have the MOST DIVINE CHOCOLATE CAKE! And it contains no eggs and no dairy!

Let me know if you try it.

I’m going to have a piece now …

xoxo