Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread

The number of over-ripe bananas accumulating in my freezer had reached critical proportions (8!) so I thought it was about time to do some baking.

I have 2 favourite recipes for banana bread, but I've made them so often I decided to look for some new inspiration, and naturally came to think of peanut butter.

Peanut butter and bananas are a great combination. For breakfast or dessert, I've been known to just slice a banana in half length-wise and smear peanut butter between the two layers. And of course toasted peanut butter and banana sandwiches are classic, so I thought a PB riff on banana bread would not be misplaced.

This  turned out to be a vegan banana bread, made with peanut butter and seroendeng. (I have an industrial-size jar of seroendeng that needs to be used up, and the amount of nasi goreng I can consume is limited.) I also made a classic banana cake with eggs and butter.

My testers (aka colleagues) turned out to be very divided on which one they liked better. Half preferred the one and half the other, and the comments were very interesting. One thought the peanut butter flavour was too dominant, another couldn't identify what the extra flavour was; one preferred the banana-y flavour of the cake, another found it too straight and mild.

My personal opinion? Mwah. I find that vegan cakes tend to be slightly drier than normal cakes, and denser. There is just no substitute for eggs. It tastes best smeared with a bit of butter (which of course makes it non-vegan). Ultimately, I think my other regular banana bread recipes have the edge over this one, but for those who like spiced banana bread, this makes a good variation.

Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I adapted this from here, omitting the chocolate chips, substituting brown sugars for white, and adding cinnamon and seroendeng.

2 tablespoons flax seeds, ground
6 tablespoons warm water

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup seroendeng, optional *

1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup yellow sugar, loosely packed
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (demerera), loosely packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup peanut butter


* Seroendeng kering is an Indonesian condiment of toasted coconut, peanuts, sugar, and salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
2. Grease a 9 cup cake form, such as 12x4.5 inch loaf pan, a bundt cake pan, and dust with flour or fine bread crumbs.
3. Combine the ground flax seeds and hot water in a small bowl and set aside. I use a coffee grinder to grind the seeds. (This is a  substitute for 2 eggs,  so if  you are not constrained, feel free to use eggs instead. )
4. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and seroendeng in a medium large bowl.
5. In a large bowl, mix the oil, brown sugars, vanilla, bananas, peanut butter and flax seed mixture (or 2 eggs). Mix thoroughly (I used a mixer). 
6. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the dry ingredients are just wet. Do not over-mix.
7. Spoon the batter into the greased pan and (optionally) sprinkle the top with another tablespoon or two of seroendeng. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Vegan Baking

In Holland it is traditional to celebrate your birthday by treating others to cake, tart, borrel, or dinner. For example, on your birthday you bring in something like vlaai, appeltaart, or cake (usually purchased from the baker) for your co-workers. I always bring in homemade cake, quickbread, and/or cheesecake.

One of my colleagues is vegan, and doesn't  normally get to enjoy the treats people bring in, so I went hunting for some recipes that would work for him too. I started with the basics—banana bread and chocolate cake.

Vegan Banana Bread
Adapted from PostPunk's Banana Bread by substituting oil for margarine, reducing the white sugar, and adding ginger.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons oil
6 tablespoons soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed
6-8 pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to  350F/180C. Grease and flour an 8×4 bread pan (use oil or margarine, not butter!) 
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3. Mix the sugars, liquid ingredients, and mashed bananas. I puréed the liquid ingredients because I don't like chunks of banana in the resulting cake.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing just enough to moisten everything. 
5. Pour the batter into the pan, garnish with pecans (if using). 
6. Bake for aproximately 45 minutes.

Vegan Cocoa Cake

Adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Amazon Cake

This is a very easy, everyday cake. 

1 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold coffee or water

5 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Line the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the liquid ingredients together. (I dissolved 4 teaspoons of espresso powder into a cup of cold water.) 
3. In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients and mix well so that there are no lumps.
5. Pour into the greased cake pan and bake for 35-45 minutes. 
6. After 10 minutes, carefully turn the cake out onto a cooling rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip onto another cooling rack or a plate.
7. Just before serving, sieve some icing sugar over the cake. (Use a paper doily or other cut out to produce a pattern.)