Best Ever Vegan Banana Bread
This banana bread is egg free, dairy free and absolutely delicious!
It’s a super moist cake and has slightly denser crumb to my typical cakes but in the best way. My mum says it might even be a tiny bit better than my usual banana cake(!). I’ll be honest, I’d always thought that making a great tasting cake without eggs was a near impossible task but my friend Mariana challenged me and after playing around in the kitchen, I’ve come up with a delish recipe and I can now say my eyes have now been opened to the world of vegan baking!
Tins
1 loaf tin
Ingredients
2 Super Ripe Large Bananas* (roughly 290g-310g with the skin on)
85g Light Soft Brown Sugar
60g (66ml) Rapeseed or Sunflower Oil (any flavourless vegetable oil will do!)
1 Heaped tbsp Black Treacle or Molasses**
1 tsp Vanilla Extract/Paste
130g Self Raising Flour
3/4tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Cinnamon
1/4tsp Nutmeg
A Pinch of Cloves
50g Chopped Pecans (save some for the top!)
2tsp Water
1tbsp Demerara Sugar (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/160 C Fan/180 C
Use a food processor or blender to blitz the bananas into a smooth paste. (You can also use a fork to mash, till smooth-ish)
Whisk together the banana, oil and brown sugar until well combined; Try and incorporate as much air as possible! Whisk for at least 5-7minutes minimum and use an electric mixer if you have one!
Add in black treacle and vanilla extract to the banana mixture and whisk well.
Slowly fold in the flour, baking powder and spices into the mixture until well combined
Add a tsp of water to loosen the banana cake batter, mix in the pecans and then pour your mixture into your lined loaf tin. Scatter the rest of the pecans over the top for decoration.
OPTIONAL: For a crispy caramel top, sprinkle a tbsp of demerara sugar on top of the cake batter (SO good!)
Bake for about 50mins - 1 hour. Start to check at about 40 mins and then 5 min intervals after that. You can tell a cake is done, by using a knife. Pop a metal knife into the cake and if it comes out clean, it is done.
Have a bake and let me know what you think on Instagram @OsiBakes
*The ripeness if the banana is so integral to the recipe! The riper the banana, the sweeter it is and the better the consistency for vegan baking. We’re talking big brown spots or even brown bananas for the recipe. Don’t listen to the internet and try to ripen unripe bananas in the oven! In my opinion it doesn’t work well to actually ripen the banana but rather just makes it mushy! Top Tip: If you have bananas that are super ripe but you aren’t ready to bake with them, you can freeze them! Freeze them with the skin on. When you need to bake, defrost (takes about an hour at room temp) and peel! If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for coming to my TEDxOsiBakes talk on bananas.
** For those with questions about whether black treacle is vegan. Yes, black treacle is definitely vegan! It’s made from refining sugar and helps to develop a deeper caramel flavour in the final product.
Vegan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- A 1lb Loaf Tin or 6-7 inch Cake Tin
- 2 Super Ripe Large Bananas* (roughly 290g-310g with the skin on)
- 85g Light Soft Brown Sugar
- 60g (66ml) Rapeseed or Sunflower Oil (any flavourless vegetable oil will do!)
- 1 Heaped tbsp Black Treacle
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract/Paste
- 130g Self Raising Flour
- 3/4tsp Baking Powder
- 1tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4tsp Nutmeg
- A Pinch of Cloves
- 50g Chopped Pecans (save some for the top!)
- 2tsp Water
- 1tbsp Demerara Sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/160 C Fan/180 C. Line your baking tin with greaseproof paper OR grease with butter & flour your tin.
- Use a food processor or blender to blitz the bananas into a smooth paste. (You can also use a fork to mash, till smooth-ish)
- Whisk together the banana, oil and brown sugar until well combined; Try and incorporate as much air as possible!
- Add in black treacle and vanilla extract to the banana mixture and whisk well.
- Slowly fold in the flour, baking powder and spices into the mixture until well combined
- Add a tsp of water to loosen the banana cake batter, mix in the pecans and then pour your mixture into your lined loaf tin. Scatter the rest of the pecans over the top for decoration.
- OPTIONAL: For a crispy caramel top, sprinkle a tbsp of demerara sugar on top of the cake batter (SO good!)
- Bake for about 50mins - 1 hour. Start to check at about 40 mins and then 5 min intervals after that. You can tell a cake is done, by using a knife. Pop a metal knife into the cake and if it comes out clean, it is done.
Notes:
Bring out all your ingredients to room temperature an hour before you bake. It helps the ingredients to combine better!
