Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake

I meant to post this Friday afternoon but got caught up at work. We purchased a few e-readers for the office (yay!) and I had to register and set them up. Let me just say that these are addictive devices and if you you are as much of a bookworm as I am then approach with cautious glee.

On our last trip to Springfield, my friend Rachel was showing off her Christmas present, a gorgeous cookbook called The Golden Book of Baking: Over 300 Great Recipes. Every recipe has a picture and it is beautifully bound and trimmed with gold. It seriously looks like a bible and after searching high and low I finally got my copy two weeks ago just in time for my friend Aurora’s birthday.

As she loves bananas and chocolate, I quickly found a chocolate banana cake that looked to DIE FOR. The problem is that like me, Aurora is trying to eat healthy and this was definitely an indulgent cake. So I took that lovely recipe, and I revised it to make it both vegan and lower in fat where I could. I’ve never really done that on the fly, but the result was a complete success, and here’s how I did it.

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups pastry flour (you can substitute whole wheat)
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Wet Ingredients

• 1/4 cup applesauce (substituted for canola oil)
• 1 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed banana

Frosting (optional)

• 3 ounces softened cream cheese (I used fat-free cream cheese)
• 1/4 cup butter softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

3. Mash 2 bananas and add enough water to create one cup of mixture.

4. To dry ingredients, add applesauce, hot water, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Add banana mixture.

5. Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean

For the Frosting…

The frosting is completely optional. The cake is delightfully vegan without and while I’m sure you can find a frosting/icing recipe without milk, butter or cream cheese, I have a killer frosting recipe that I just can’t not use. To make:

1. Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy.

2. With mixer at low speed, beat in the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa until smooth.

3. Spread the frosting on the cake.

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