Banana Bread - The Vegan Way

Using my fav banana bread recipe, I wanted to see if I could make a vegan version just as an experiment. And I am happy to say it worked and you don't even notice the absence of the eggs.

This recipe makes a a 1.5 lb loaf, roughly. 

The Ingredients

50g sultanas 

50g soya spread

75g xylitol

63g Molasses (unrefined sugar cane, I used Billingtons) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

93g plain gluten free flour (Doves Farm)

1 tsp GF baking powder

63g ground almonds

0.5 tsp baking soda

0.5 tsp xanthan gum

0.5 tsp salt

175g mashed banana

90ml soya buttermilk 

1 extra tablespoon of soya spread

I made the buttermilk by putting a teaspoon of cider vinegar in soya milk 5 minutes before I needed to use it.

Billington’s sugars are all unrefined which means they have been simply made by pressing out, cleaning and crystallising the juice from the sugar cane. Unrefined sugar is better than refined sugar, but its still sugar :) You could make this with just xylitol, but its wouldn't have the same toffee richest that complements the banana so well, its the molasses that gives it this richness. 

The Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180c (GM4).

Line your loaf tin, ideally with a paper case. I made one from greaseproof paper and a few less than expert snips of the scissors and folding. If you are making muffins as well - pop the cases in the muffin tray. 

Cream the butter/spread with the xylitol and molasses, once its well mixed it will look like wet sand. I used an electric whisk. Once I had done this I realised I needed a bit more spread to get the right consistency, so I mixed in another tablespoon of soya spread, together with the vanilla. 

Combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt. 

Add the mashed banana to the butter/sugar mix, you can mix in quickly using the electric whisk.  

Add the banana mix and the buttermilk alternately, mixing well with each addition. 

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. 

Bake for 30-30 minutes. You know its done when a skewer in the middle comes out clean. 

Cool on a rack or at least try to, it smells so good, you might have to leave the house while they cool to stop yourself eating them! 

It works well as a loaf, but probably works best as muffins, has an amazing taste!