Banana bread

When I was little, my Mum used to make super tasty banana bread and for ages I was on the look out for a vegan version that tasted as good. I made one a little while ago using this recipe, although I think I prefer the latest one. I got the recipe from someone who had brought along some banana bread to a university society meeting last year, or maybe even the year before. The oven in my flat is a bit dodgy, so the bread unfortunately ended up quite burnt on the outside... At least, I'm going to blame the oven... The result was overall very tasty, though.

• Pre-heat the oven to 175°/Gas Mark 3.5.
• Mix together 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking powder and an optional handful of walnuts.
• Add 1/2 cup of oil, 1/2 cup soya milk, 3-4 very ripe bananas (mashed) and 1 tsp vanilla.
• Line a loaf tin with baking paper and pour the mixture in.
• Bake for an hour, then check because it might need 15 more minutes.

More chocolate brownies

I've tried various recipes for chocolate brownies, and thought I'd try another. These ones were sadly less exciting than the last ones we made but they were still pretty good.

• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/170°C.
• Mash two bananas in a mixing bowl (it generally helps if they're quite ripe).
  Mix in 170g flour and 2tbsp cocoa and 115 sugar.
• Dissolve 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda in 140ml water, then add to the mix with 140ml vegetable oil. The mixture will be pretty runny, but don't worry about that.
• At this point, we added a handful of walnuts and I reckon chocolate chips would be a good addition too.
• Pour the mixture into a pre-greased tin and bake for 40 minutes.
• If you made it in a round tin, cut off the edges and eat them. After all, brownies are meant to be square, right?

Brownies and berries

Recipe source: The Vegan Society

Emma and Genevieve try out old and new recipes

Banana loaf and slightly grilled cookies (oops...)

This afternoon, Genevieve, a friend from the Lishi (tai chi) class at the university came over to listen to Beatles records, have a tour of our new house and meet some of the resident spiders. Oh yes, and most importantly of all, to bake cake! First, we made a banana loaf which a friendly cake baker called Melina recommended to me through a vegetarian/vegan couchsurfing group. Melina says that this one is her favourite, plus, cakes are a great way to use up very ripe bananas. And the end result was yummylicious! Genevieve and I also made some coconut and cashew cookies. These are from a recipe which contains egg, and up til now I've just cheated and used egg replacer because I was scared of messing up the cookies... Today, though, we used flaxseed (a great source of Omega 3 which can be added to anything you may be cooking) and my fears turned out to be unfounded; the cookies taste great! Anyhow, without further ado, on with the recipes... :)

Melina's banana cake

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
• Mix together the following ingredients: 225g soya/vegetable spread, 250g sugar or agave syrup, 2-3 very ripe bananas, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp baking powder.
• Next stir in 250g flour (Melina recommends a mix of dinkel and amaranth flour).
• Finally, stir in (optional) 50g crushed walnuts and 25g chocolate pieces (we used cacao nibs and came to the conclusion that whilst slightly odd on their own, they're not so bad in cake).
• Pour into loaf/cake tins.
• As a finishing touch, Melina adds a few clove heads, spread evenly across the top.

Coconut and cashew cookies

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
• Cream together 150g vegetable/soya spread with 135g sugar.
• Mix 1 tbsp ground flaxseed with 3 tbsp water (This is roughly equivalent to 1 egg. There are various other ways of replacing egg, like with banana for example. If in doubt, Google it!) and add to the sugar mix.
• Stir in 150g self raising flour (if you don't have self raising, just add 1 tsp baking powder for every 75g).
• Next, add 100g dessicated or grated creamed coconut (either works well, it just depends what kind of texture you want), 2 tsp ground ginger (optional) and 200g cashews.
• Add small balls of mixture (it'll be fairly sticky) to a greased baking tray and bake for around 15 minutes.
• Eat!

Recipe source for banana loaf: Melina (Thanks!)
Recipe source for cookies: Vegetarian Nosh 4 Students (This book has some really great recipes, although a lot of them do contain quite a bit of cheese.)

Anna, Egle and Emma make an End-of-an-Era cake.

Chocolate and banana cake with smoothie

Today's cake was a very special one, both in taste (this is currently my favourite cake recipe) and in what it represents. Like all good things (such as picnics, summer holidays and even, sadly, cake), our time in halls is coming to an end. In just a couple of days, we'll all be going our separate ways and leaving halls, most probably forever. As much as I'll miss living with my flat mates, we will all still see each other. If truth be told, it'll be the place we'll miss the most, and its soul-stirring symphony of sounds. Ah, the poignant harmonies of the drunken mob in the early hours of the morning, the persistant melody of the buzzer (almost always people depositing flyers) and the recurring motif of the night time fire alarm, with the occassional burst of opera blaring out from Anna's room. And so it was with tears in our eyes, and icing sugar on our faces, that we made our farewell cake, drowned our tears in homemade raspberry smoothie and said goodbye to our old flat and its stale, musty, homely scent.


Raspberry smoothie

• Cover frozen berries with apple juice and blend.
• Blend in a banana and optional soya yoghurt.
• Serve with banana chips and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Chocolate banana cake

• Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
• Sift together 285g plain flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 50g cocoa and 225g sugar.
• Mix in 10floz water (or 8floz water and 2floz soya milk) and 1 cup vegetable oil.
• Mash 1 banana and add to the mix.
• Pour mixture into 2 greased 8" tins and bake for 40 minutes.
• Leave to cool, then smother in chocolate fudge icing and banana chips.
• Serve with soya custard.

Chocolate fudge icing

• Melt 50g soya/sunflower/vegetable spread.
• Stir in 3 tbsp water, 200g icing sugar, 50g cocoa and 1 tsp vanilla essence.
• Try not to eat it all before it reaches the cake...!

Recipe source: The Cake Scoffer
Sound track: 'Banana Pancakes' by Jack Johnson (hey, it nearly fits!)

Anna beats Emma to it and bakes the first cake

Chocolate, banana and beetroot brownie

So I got home this evening and was greeted by the most wonderful smell coming from the kitchen... Anna had been baking beetroot brownies! She made half of them with egg and butter, and the other half with banana and soya spread. And guess what... Both Anna and Egle agreed that the vegan brownies tasted better! Apparently the banana gives a better texture. Anyhoo, here is the recipe, so you too can make these fabulous cakes...

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
• Peel and chop 400g of beetroots (not the kind in vinegar).
• Put the beets in a bowl with a dash of water, cover with pierced cling film and heat in the microwave for 12 minutes on full power (don't use non-PVC cling film or it'll melt).
• Drain the beets and add 200g of dark chocolate and 100g of soya spread. The heat from the beets will melt the chocolate; blend until smooth.
• Mash up 2 bananas in a bowl with 250g of sugar until the mixture is the consistency of thick cream.
• Add the banana and sugar to the beet mix with 1 tsp of vanilla essence.
• Mix in 100g of plain flour and 25g of cocoa powder.
• Pour mixture into pre-greased tray and bake for 25 minutes.
• Leave to cool, then slice and serve.
• Bask in the warm, sunshiney praise of your friends and family, with the sweet taste of chocolate brownie in your mouth.

Recipe source: Anna's Googling skills and her imagination