Double choc banana blondie
On Monday and Tuesday I celebrated my birthday with my work colleagues.... I told you I like to drag out my birthday (which was on Friday) for as long as possible!
At the weekend I'd baked an experimental 'double chocolate banana blondie' to surprise my work colleagues with...they knew it would be healthy and vegan, I then also told them it was gluten free and sugar free....just before they took their first bite I also told them that it had an added secret ingredient...could any of them guess?
Nope......but can you guess? Go on, you should know me well by now.
Oh yes...beans! Well, actually chickpeas.
This was originally going to be a simple 'blondie sponge' based on this blondie recipe, however I realised I had no sweet potato so decided to wing it and sub this for banana and a little tofu instead, this gave the cake a lovely subtle banana kick, not overly so bananary the way a full on banana cake would be but it really complimented the chocolate layer (which I decided needed to be added for visual pizazz) and the choc chunks and nutty crumbles on the top really well.
The verdict....recipe requests, just like this time!
I should probably share my baking experiments more!
So that was Monday, but yesterday it was my turn to be surprised when I was presented with a vegan banana cake that had been ordered for me specially and had taken a while to be delivered. It was such a sweet gesture. So after lunch, we all had a slice...it tasted pretty good, although more like a tea bread as it was much dryer than my cake and the apple juice that had been used as a sweetener overpowered the banana in my opinion. The unanimous vote was that my cake was better…yay!!
Ah ha, here is me and a slice of my surprise banana cake...figured you might want to see a photo of my silly face at birthday time...a rare occurrence to see an actual photo of me on this blog!
The recipe below is for my banana cake. You could make it into a loaf, slices, muffins or a nice round sponge as I did. Options, options...feel free to get a little crazy with your toppings too.
Recipe: Double choc banana blondie
Makes one 7” round cake
Ingredients
- 1 medium banana
- ½ cup silken tofu
- ½ cup mashed chickpeas
- 1/3 cup coconut butter- melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup agave plus ¼ tsp stevia
- 1 cup GF flour mix* (I used 1/3 cup each of almond meal, buckwheat flour, tapioca flour)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- A pinch salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 3 tbs cocoa powder
- Handful dark chocolate chips
- Handful nuts (I used hazlenuts)
*you could substitute spelt or regular flour for non GF
Method
Blend the wet ingredients in food processor until very smooth. Pour into a bowl, add dry ingredients (except cocoa, chocolate and nuts) and blend together well mixed.
Divide the mixture into two bowls and add the cocoa two one half of the mixture and mix through well.
Spoon the chocolate mixture into a greased/lined 7” round cake tin (or square tin or loaf tin) and smooth out. Spoon over the blondie layer and gently smooth across taking care not to disturb the bottom layer.
Add the choc chunks and nuts to the top. Bake in the oven at 180C for approx. 20 mins until lightly golden at the edges and a skewer comes away clean.. Allow to cool before slicing and serving.
This recipe is shared with Slightly Indulgent Tuesday's
Chocolate swirled blondies…that go with a bang!
Today I am very happy! It sometimes easy to underestimate how others may respond to a recipe, I worry that my tastes are different and that just because I enjoy my cakes- other people who are used to ‘normal’ cakes may not.
However, this time it can most definitely be said that these Blondies achieve top marks in the taste test!
The basic idea of including sweet potato came from a recipe in the highly regarded book ‘Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar’, however I wanted to take healthy to greater heights! This was a risk and I knew it! The plan was to make some cakes to take along to my friend’s fireworks party, so I knew I’d need to pull out all the stops to get it right.
There sat my plate of Blondies in amongst all the other non-vegan, non-healthy delicacies that had brought to the party....and by the end of the night… they had all disappeared! No one had guessed the secret ingredients and what’s more one of the guests at the party was diabetic and was so pleased upon realising he could eat my cake without any worry!
This first batch was made using spelt flour, but I figured since the amount of flour was already fairly low (as I’d subbed part of the flour for the chickpeas) it should be fairly simple to make a gluten free version. I was on a role and so this morning I couldn’t resist making another batch for myself- this time with my favourite GF combo.
The result… I think I like the GF blondies even better!!
Recipe: Chocolate marbled blondies
Makes 16 squares
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
- ¼ cup soy yoghurt
- 3 tbs water
- 1/3 cup coconut butter
- ¼ cup agave plus ½ tsp stevia
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup white spelt flour (or GF subs below)
- ½ cup mashed chickpeas
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- A pinch salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- NB: GF flour substitute- 1/3 cup each of almond meal, buckwheat flour, tapioca flour
Method
Blend wet ingredients in food processor until very smooth. Pour into a bowl, add dry ingredients (except choc chips) and blend together well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon mixture into a parchment lined 8x8 baking tin and smooth the top. Bake in oven at 180C for approx. 15 mins. Note- GF timings may be slightly shorter- check with a toothpick and remove when almost cooked. Allow to cool fully before slicing into squares.
Note- if the mixture is still slightly warm (from the sweet potato not being totally cool) the choc chips will melt slightly giving the batter a ‘marbled' effect. This was a happy accident which I actually love, but if you want to chocolate chunks to stay solid and the batter to remain ‘blonde’ than allow the potato to cool fully before mixing.
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I am a designer, personal empowerment coach and writer from the UK. I work with health and wellness businesses to bring their mission and purpose to the world. I also help people become the best version of themselves in mind and body.
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