Chocolate Banana Cake

8-10
Under 60 MinsFreezer FriendlyNo WasteLeftovers

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp plant-based butter, for greasing the tins
  • 350g Essential Plain Flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 100g light brown soft sugar
  • ½ tsp fine salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 160ml Essential Oat Drink Unsweetened
  • 1 tbsp Essential Cider Vinegar
  • 3 large ripe bananas, 360g peeled weight
  • 50g coconut oil, room temperature
  • 1 tbsp cold milled flaxseed
  • 1 tbsp Essential Bramley Apple Sauce
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the vegan chocolate frosting & to decorate

  • 400g icing sugar
  • 1 orange, scrubbed, finely grated zest, 3 tbsp juice
  • 75g plant-based butter, softened (Naturli' Organic Vegan Block)
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 25g walnuts, chopped, to sprinkle

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Mix the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, then sift into a large mixing bowl. Add the granulated sugar and light brown sugar, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
  2. In a bowl, whisk the oat drink and cider vinegar for 30 seconds until bubbly. In a small bowl, combine the milled flaxseed and 2 tbsp hot water, then set aside.
  3. In a food processor or blender, combine the bananas, the oat and vinegar mix, and coconut oil until combined – do not overblend – you should still have some little bits of banana visible. Add the banana mixture, flax ‘egg’, apple sauce and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix well with an electric hand mixer.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins and spread out evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes until well-risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove to a rack and cool completely before frosting.
  5. Prepare your frosting. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl. Add most of the orange zest, 3 tbsp juice, the plant-based butter and cocoa powder, then mix on a slow speed until thick and smooth.
  6. Sandwich the cakes with ½ of the frosting, then spread the remaining frosting over the top cake. Decorate the top with chopped walnuts and the remaining orange zest.
Chocolate Banana Cake