Vegan Banana cake with peanut butter topping .

It was my birthday & I wanted to bake a cake. I had some ripe bananas ( 4 medium or maybe small ) & some leftover gulab jamun syrup. I decided to make a banana cake. I thought about using only baking powder & no baking soda .This was the way to keep colour of the cake non brown. I wanted to do some frosting & googled & got this peanut butter frosting idea.I used just peanut butter without any cream or sugar. I like the peanut butter taste .Moreover, I recycled leftover gulab jamun syrup into the cake recipe. Skipped using sugar other than the left over syrup.

Ingredients  : 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 4-5 small bananas ( not elaichi bananas ) , 1/2 cup gulab jamun syrup, 1 tbsp of assorted  sun dried  fruits like cranberries & blueberries ( optional )   1 tbsp oil,1-2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp sugar strand sprinkles( optional ) , 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cardamom powder,a pinch of salt.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Mix the atta, maida, baking powder, cardamom powder , salt  with a fork or a whisk many times over till all get mixed nicely with one another. This is the dry mix .Keep aside.

Peel & mash the bananas into a pulp.Add oil & the leftover gulab jamun syrup.Mix all nicely. thsi is the wet mix.Keep   aside.

Make a well in the dry mix .Pour the wet mix into the well & start mixing with a whisk.Mix till no lumps remain.Add water drop by drop if the dough is too dry or has lumps in it. The dough must have no lumps. Add in the assorted sun dried berries. Alternatively , chopped walnuts or almonds or raisins can be added as well.

Line the inside of baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the cake dough into the lined baking vessel. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. I always bake it in microwave mode for five minutes after this 45 minutes baking just to make sure that no part of cake remains uncooked.

Initially, bake the cake by covering the cake with aluminium foil.Towards the end that is after 29-30 minutes of baking are over, put off oven.Remove the aluminum foil & bake the remaining 15 minutes. This is to prevent burning of cake top .Caketop may get burnt if left uncovered.The last 15 minutes of baking are done by uncovering top to ensure browning of cake .This browning gives a nice crust to the cake.After 45 minutes baking, bake in microwave mode for five minutes to prevent any part of cake from remaining cooked.

Let the cake remain in the oven. After fifteen minutes or more, take out cake & cool it outside for 35 -45 minutes. It must be at room temperature to add the peanut butter topping. Put the cake vessel upside down on to a plate. Remove the butter paper from the bottom. Now put the cake with the bottom side up on the plate.

Start smearing the cake top with peanut butter by a spoon or a butter knife.I spread a thin layer. Then tried to sprinkle some coloured sugar strands in a pattern on the cake. As I tried to sprinkle, the sugar strands , the sugar strands got powdered unevenly.This can be noticed in the snaps of the cake. Satisfied, I cut the cake into desired shapes. This is my first attempt at any topping on cake & I am proud of it !

The cake felt somewhat dry.My neighbour remarked that my cakes were getting better & better at each attempt. That's the best compliment I have received !

To improve, the moistness of cake, it would be advisable to add some more oil maybe half -1 tbsp more.Alternatively, add one more ripe peeled & mashed banana.

Almond milk banana cake

I was planning to bake a cake.I thought about making a coffee & even a date cake.Then ,I realised that the bananas were going to get overripe soon.My kid will eat banans when they are just ripe not over ripe.So ,I had to make a banana cake.My kid broght some berries ( assorted in a packet worth Rs 160 /- ) .As any mom, I saw red. Then ,she proceeded to make a smoothie with a handful of those berries & almond milk.The berries just got a little crushed & stayed at the bottom.They were not blending with the almond  milk.She then strained the berries.And she realised that she will not be able to either drink the strained almond milk ,collected in a glass nor able to gulp down the berry mix that lay in the strainer. She left them  like that on the kitchen platform.I was cross as almond milk is too steeply priced just like the berries.This is because she liked the appearance of neither the strained almond milk nor that of the strained berries .So much so, that she left without tasting either of them ! So,I thought ,it would be a good idea to use both the almond milk as also the strained berry mix in banana cake.Otherwise,I would have used yoghurt, in place of almond milk  as it gives good results.

I googled & got many vegan cake recipes. I mixed up the many recipes .

Ingredients : 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup oil, 4 medium to small bananas ( the over ripe they are ,better for the cake ) , 1 -2 tbsp berry mix ( optional ) , 1 cup almond milk, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, salt to taste, a handful of almonds for garnish,water if needed.

Method : Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Add 1 tsp apple cider vinegar to the 1 cup almond milk to curdle it.Keep aside.

In a bowl, mix whole wheat flour, maida, baking powder, baking soda, salt & sugar.Mix all many times over with whisk or fork.Keep aside.This is the dry mix.

Blend the berry mix with the bananas. Add oil & curdled almond milk to banana berry mix. Mix nicely.This is the wet mix.

 Make a well in the centre of the dry mix.Add the wet mix slowly into the dry mix well.Blend the dry & wet mix. Blend till you get a batter.If , it is getting very dry or not blending as wet mix is insufficient, add water spoon by spoon. A smooth batter must be obtained without any lumps.

Line a baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the batter into the baking vessel on the butter paper. Arrange the almonds on the batter in any pattern .Bake at 180 degrees  in oven for 45-50 minutes or till  a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

Mine was wet when 50 minutes were over. Actually,I baked for 50 minutes.Next,I went out for my evening walk.I returned after one & half hours.I inserted a knife & it came out wet.I was horrified. I baked it at 180 degrees for another 10 minutes.I then put the oven in microwave mode & baked in microwave mode for 4-5 minutes.Then ,allowed it to cool inside the oven for 15-20 minutes.I again inserted a knife & this time it came out clean. I was relieved.I kept the cake out of the oven to cool .After half an hour, I put the baking vessel upside down on to a plate.Tap the bottom of the baking vessel.The cake will drop down on to the plate. Cut into desired shapes & serve.

I found it crumbly. The cake was breaking.And yet, the texture was superb ! It was yumm !

The almonds were making it very difficult to cut the cake into thin slices.I was forced to cut the cake into thick slices ( size of slice equalled the almond length  ).A food blogger blogs that almonds need to be chopped & toasted before being used in cakes & breads .I need to keep that in mind.Perhaps toasted almonds would make cutting thin slices easier !

I cover the baking vessel with aluminum foil so that top of cake does not get burnt. In this instance, I forgot to do so.I realised it when 29 minutes were over. I switched off oven & covered the top of baking vessel with foil & then continued baking. Usually,I cover with foil during the first thirty minutes or more.Last ten minutes, I switch off , remove foil & continue baking.