Vegan Banana Bread
Never throw out over-ripe bananas, they are fantastic for baking. They can also be chopped up and frozen and used at a later date, or in smoothies, or used to make healthy banana ice cream. This bread is also nice toasted or warmed up.
Ingredients
3 large very ripe bananas (if you have 4 to use up, 4 would work too)
180g flour (I only had plain flour so I added 3 tsp of baking powder) *See other substitutes below)
30g ground almonds (optional)
3 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice (I used 2 cinnamon, 1 mixed spice)
50g dried fruit (I soaked some sultanas in a little hot water to make the cake more moist)
50g chopped walnuts (optional, you can use other nuts or seeds)
60g sugar (I use coconut sugar or muscovado sugar)
50g melted coconut oil (you can use any oil that does not have a strong flavour, such as vegetable, sunflower, rapeseed, light olive oil
3 tbsp soya milk (or any other milk you have)
Pinch of sea salt (optional)
* Flour substitutes
Self-raising flour plus 1tsp baking powder
Whole meal flour, buckwheat flour (for GF, but I don’t like the taste of buckwheat, brown rice flour gives a more crumbly texture). If self-raising, just use 1tsp baking powder, if plain, use 3tsp.
Method
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Mash the bananas with a fork, then mix well with the oil and sugar
Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon or mixed spice, and combine well. Add dried fruit, nuts, and ground almonds if using. Add the milk.
Bake in an oiled, lined tin (use a 2lb loaf tin if you have one, I only had a 20cm round cake tin).
Bake for 20 minutes and check if skewer comes out clean. If the cake is browning, cover with tin foil. Depending on the oven you may need to bake for longer – just try not to over bake it as it will be dry.
Allow to cool a little before slicing. It’s delicious freshly baked, but develops a lovely gooey quality the day after.
Enjoy!