Vegan Banana Cookies

Recipe based on Yammie's Noshery: LINK

I'm not sure how it somehow became a mild expectation, however my second year students seem to believe that at some magical point of the year I will bake something for them.

Last academic year (2014/15), I had a particularly lovely bunch of students in my second year classes, and decided to treat them the smaller class. Not out of favouritism, just unfortunate timing. I knew one of the students is a vegan, so I in order to include her, I had to ensure I made a 'young person appealing' biscuit or something that didn't include eggs.

I found a recipe on one of my favourite haunts at Yammie's, and made a few tweaks to make sure it stayed vegan, and also nut-free. I had attempted a recipe a few days earllier earlier for flourless brownie cookies, hence they were gluten free, and after attempting a vegan version of them, namely replacing eggs with bananas, I was rewarded with flat, unappealing, yet extremely yummy... things.

This time the result was a very soft, squidgy cookie. In hindsight, they were perhaps too soft and squidgy, so I will probably increase the flour content next time.

After all that, the vegan student was absent that day. Pity.

Curious little chappies

Cheeky stowaway emergency freezer cookie

Squidge!

Two different types of dark chocolate

10th December-15

I made these again for one of my smaller classes, and tried to juzz them up by adding a dollop of my homemade caramel... Before baking. As expected, it melted, making them quite unappealing appearance-wise. They tasted amazing though so I'm not abandoning the idea or these actual specimens. I consulted my ...Domestic Goddess bible by Nigella Lawson, and tried making an indent so I could fill the biscuits post-bake, but they smoothed out in the oven, so I decided to skip that extra flourish.

The taste was lovely, definitely one for the recipe collection.

Melted dark chocolate

In the tin

Fresh out of the oven

The stack

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Hummingbird Cake

Based on recipe from... You guessed it: The Hummingbird Bakery book.

A signature fruit cake that I would never have attempted, again because it is a layer cake (see Brooklyn Blackout Cake), and also because it has pineapple in it. Not my cup of tea... Or so I thought!

The batter was easy to create, and the bake was very simple. Again, being a reluctant cake decorator I unceremoniously slathered the cream cheese frosting on, and arranged some pecan nuts on the cake. It actually had its own charm. I'm hindsight, I should have probably levelled the cakes as the result was quite a tall assembly, but meh! I didn't want the scraps about.

The cake turned out to be lovely and light... Whilst it was mainly a banana and pecan cake, the cream cheese frosting made it reminiscent of carrot cake.

Definitely one to do again!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Chocolate Covered Banana Cake Poops

Yes, they are Cake Poops, not Cake Pops.

One, because they looked like poops, and two, because they are - strictly speaking - not cake pops.

I was baking banana cake based on the Hummingbird Bakery book, and I could tell it wasn't quite going well; the cake looked like it was baked when it still had at least 30 minutes to go. It clearly wasn't done, so I decided to risk it and go for a run - ostensibly for 20 minutes, but as a non-runner, and indeed non-exercise-anything-person, it took a little bit longer, and I returned to a very well done and slightly sunken cake.

In its defence, it was still edible, but it looked terrible. I couldn't present that!

I decided to try and salvage the cake as I can't abide waste (have I mentioned that before?!)

I cut the well done edges off and crumbled the cake inner (which tasted very nice, by the way, it just had the appearance of a Jamaican Ginger Cake!) then mashed them into healthy sized balls (about the size of a ping pong ball), and then dipped them in dark chocolate melted with a bit of butter.

I chilled them in the fridge for just under an hour, and by which point they still kept their shine, yet were firm and cool enough to eat. They were delicious. I would definitely do something like this again, but only if the cake looked like it had been hit with the ugly stick.

When I later managed to get on-line, I then discovered that cake pops are actually crumbled cakes mixed with a bit of buttercream icing and then chilled before dipping into chocolate.

I state now that the likelihood of me ever making cake pops is minimal. Cake Poops all the way.

Suspicious

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins

Recipe base from Hummingbird Bakery book.

Using Pyrex cupcake tin (only good kind I could find in Stockholm so far), the recipe yielded 24 cupcakes. The recipe was meant to make 12 muffins, however this is with a larger size cup, so I was expecting 18, and was pleased to get to 24 cakes that filled their cases.

I did not mash the bananas too thoroughly, so cakes took around 26-29 minutes to cook thoroughly. I ran out of filmjölk (Swedish substitute for butter milk), so topped up with whole milk (approximately 2:1). First batter, I accidentally put the vanilla extract in with the dry ingredients, rather than the buttermilk-egg mixture, however I do not feel that it had an adverse effect on the results.

I mixed the caster sugar and ground cinnamon together (approximately 4:1) in a little bowl for an even topping. I preferred the cakes that had the topping put on just before baking as opposed to the ones that were topped and had to wait before their bake.

Ran out of cupcake cases, so made two mini loaf-lets, using 'free standing' cardboard cases. The cases were over full (perhaps 1 cm left after the batter went in), and consequently the cakes spread into a more comical rotund shape. Next time I use such cases, I will place them in a baking tin to prevent the spreading effect.

Loaf check @ 35 minutes - still far too moist, however the colour is good, so placed foil caps over them to prevent burning

Loaf check @ 45 minutes - still too moist. Returned to oven inside cake tins (along with foil caps), to give a bit more support

Loaf check @ 55 minutes - too moist

Loaf check @ 65 minutes - one loaf seems ready, the other is still not completely set. Returned both to the oven with tins and caps for 7 minutes

Loaf check @ 72 minutes - oops! Forgot to put the timer on. The skewer is not coming out completely clean, however I think that is down to the banana, plus I am tired, so I am taking it out. It will have to do. Will cool over night, and wrap in foil to take to work for fika tomorrow. It will be eaten either way!

The loaves were a disaster. There is far too much banana in there to bake properly in this format.

Muffin rating #1: 9/10
Loaf rating #1: 0/10

BanBan Bread

Originally based on Hummingbird Bakery Banana Loaf

I had to specify that the Banana Loaf recipe I used was on original base, but this cake has developed so much more for me.

The simple glory of the BanBan Bread

I have been making BanBan Bread fairly regularly for nearly 2 years now, and it is one of my most reliable recipes that I turn to when I have a banana surplus. It never fails. It's deceptively moist and delicated spiced that every complex mouthful is amazing. I am not a huge fan of banana cake, but I can easily put away a healthy slice of this cake, and still want more.

Only the lonely

Winter Chic

For my most recent bake of this, I dressed it up a bit with some vanilla cream cheese frosting, which gave it a surprisingly chic and wintry new look. I am always happy to eat cake without icing, but this gave a nice creamy accent.

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Notes from original trial
Made 2 quantities, banana was probably above the recommended 200g per cake (I didn't weigh it exactly as they were frozen in bags; I think I used around 410g for the entire mixture).

Used light muscovado sugar rather than soft brown.

Batter seemed a little stiff for my liking, however I will always trust a recipe once!

Topped with brown sugar as I had a tiny bit left, but couldn't be bothered to put it back in the cupboard.

Cake Check @ 50 minutes: both cakes are baking well, lovely dark golden colour, smell good. Not leaving the skewer entirely clean but close, so covered with foil and popped back into the oven for 10 minutes.

Cake Check @ 60 minutes: both cakes pass the skewer test, however I am wary of the moistness of a banana cake so returned to the oven with their foil caps with the heat off for another 10 minutes to be sure.