Something about this whole vegan experiment has me craving baked goods! Not sure what it is… maybe it’s the whole concept of “forbidden fruit” or what have you, but I’ve been all about the cookies, cakes etc.
It’s not so much that I want to EAT these things it’s more that I’ve been excited about experimenting with vegan baking. When I think of vegan sweet treats I automatically think of Babycakes bakery in NYC. Babycakes is an allergen free bakery… if you have a food allergy chances are they can probably whip something up for you. Their cupcakes have been voted #1 in NYC and Martha Stewart apparently is pretty into them. Babycakes has their fair share of detractors but I don’t care… I enjoy me some Babycakes.
When I decided to be a vegan for 40 days one of the first things that I did was try to find the recipe for Babycakes’ cupcakes. Sadly, no luck. BUT I did find a recipe for their cinnamon-banana bread.
I was overall happy with this recipe considering the lack of eggs and milk. The one thing made me sad was that the bread was pretty flat. I don’t really understand the science behind baking but I’m sure some research would be able to solve that one.
I made a ton of modifications to this recipe starting with the flour. I don’t have problems with gluten so I used whole wheat pastry flour and some regular all-purpose flour. Because I was using flour with gluten I opted to NOT use xanthan gum. Mainly because I didn’t want to buy $9 bag and I couldn’t find it in bulk, but also because I wasn’t sure that I needed it. I also didn’t use agave nectar, I substituted equal parts regular sugar but in retrospect I should have used less sugar because the bananas were super sweet and I didn’t factor in that sugar is sweeter than agave.
My smartest move in all of this was ADDING CHOCOLATE CHIPS. Everything tastes better with chocolate. BUT the chips sank to the bottom of the loaf (again, the chemistry I don’t understand) but it was still yummy. The banana slices on the top were strictly a decorative touch.
This loaf lasted MAYBE two days.
- 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free, all-purpose baking flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 overripe bananas, mashed
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup agave nectar
- 1/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly oil an 81/2-by-41/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom and sides of the loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the baking flour with the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum and salt. In another bowl, whisk the bananas with the oil, agave nectar, soy milk and vanilla. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the banana bread cool on a rack for 20 minutes before turning it out. Let cool completely before slicing.
(Recipe via Food & Wine)
