Lockdown has us stuck at home with our pots and pans, and can't deny that we love it (even if just a tiny bit)! We can bake as much as our hearts desire and for those of you who love banana as much as we do at this time of year, this recipe is right up your street! Not only is it vegan AND gluten-free, its suuuper tasty. This cake is great for any bakers trying to up their free-from baking game.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 4-5 medium-sized ripe bananas
- 60g coconut oil (melted; or olive oil)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup (or your favourite sweetener)
- 1 tsp GF apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100g raisins (optional)
- 150g ground almonds (or almond flour)
- 150g gluten-free flour blend (GF plain flour also works)
- 2 heaped tsp GF baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 120ml almond milk (or your favourite plant-based milk)
For the icing:
- 2 x 400g tin of full-fat coconut milk - leave in the fridge the night before (or 400g coconut yoghurt)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (or your favourite sweetener)
- 1 handful blueberries (to serve)
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180°C and line two greased cake tins.
- Peel 3 bananas and place them in a wide bowl. With a fork, mash the bananas until they are smooth.
- Place the coconut oil, maple syrup, vinegar, cinnamon, vanilla, raisins and ground almonds in a large bowl.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Add the mashed bananas and mix well. Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture becomes a loose batter. You might not need all of the milk outlined in this recipe, or you might need a little more, depending on how much water the bananas contain.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tins.
- Peel the remaining 1-2 bananas and slice in half lengthways. You may want to slice in half lengthways again depending on the size of your loaf tin and your bananas.
- Lay the sliced bananas next to each other on top of one tin's mixture. You could leave a little space in between each banana slice to get a more rustic appearance like in the photo.
- Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes until it has risen, is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool on a cooling rack while you make the icing.
For the icing:
- Open the can of coconut milk upside down so that the coconut cream is on the bottom and you can pour off the milk. You can put the milk in the fridge for another recipe or to add to your smoothie!
- Place the coconut cream in a large bowl.
- Add the lemon juice and maple syrup.
- Using an electric whisk, whisk the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
- Once the cake has cooled, remove from the tins and spread about 1cm of icing on the cake half without the sliced bananas on. Then carefully place the other half on top of it, so the sliced bananas are on the top of the cake (as shown in the photo).
- Using a spatular, spread the icing around the sides of the cake. You can either use a long spatular to create a smooth sides of the cake, or a smaller one to make more rustic sides (photo).
- To serve, scatter the blueberries on top of the cake. Best served fresh!