Banana bread is an all time favourite and this vegan recipe is sure to please. It’s flavourful; a mix of warm cinnamon and sweet banana, a little bit nutty, and of course it is beautifully moist.

About 5 months ago, I suddenly couldn’t consume dairy anymore (heartbreak right?), so ever since, I’ve been on the lookout for easy, affordable and delicious dairy-free baking. Now I know that there are plenty of amazing vegan banana bread recipes out there already, but I’m about that budget life and don’t want to buy a whole heap of fancy ingredients when I just want some tasty banana bread. Plus, I’m terrible at planning baking and always just bake spontaneously, so using standard ingredients I have in my house and having a delicious baked treat are high on the list of importance.

So, I decided to make my own Vegan Banana Bread recipe – because why not?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 6 tablespoons water
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cup mashed banana (about 4 bananas) + 1 banana for decoration
• ½ cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower, but other mild/flavourless oils are fine too)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 175°C and grease a loaf tin. If you have baking paper, you can line the tin with baking paper, otherwise, just a decent oiling will be fine.

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl – you can sieve this, or use a whisk to add a bit more air into the dry ingredients.

3. In another big bowl, combine the ground flaxseed and water using a whisk until it starts to thicken and takes on a gel-like consistency. The flaxseed should be as finely ground as you can get it before you add the water – use a spice or coffee grinder if you have one. The ground flaxseed and water is a great replacement for egg and adds a really nice nutty flavour which complements the banana bread perfectly.

4. Cream the sugar into the flaxseed mixture until it is well combined.

5. Add the mashed banana, oil, vanilla essence and cinnamon and stir well. Using oil instead of butter is a great way to get the necessary fat into your loaf, while still keeping it really moist.

6. Add the flour ½ a cup at a time until the flour is just combined. You don’t want to over mix as it can make the cake tough.

7. Pour the mixture into the pre-greased loaf tin, and if you want, decorate it by gently pressing into the top of the loaf a banana that has been cut in half lengthwise. This not only looks cool, but also adds some more banana to the loaf.

8. Bake in the oven for around an hour. The cooking time can vary depending on your oven, how moist the air is, the flour you use, how much moisture was in the bananas etc. so if you need to leave the loaf in for longer than an hour, don’t worry, this is totally normal. A cake skewer or sharp knife should come out clean when you test it. About halfway through cooking, you should cover your loaf with tinfoil as the top will start to brown, and this means you can keep cooking your loaf, without the top becoming burnt.

9. Once you take the loaf out of the oven, leave the banana bread in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning it out of the tin. Serve while still warm, but it’s still just as delicious the next day. I use a bread knife to cut the loaf – as with all fresh baking, be gentle cutting it so that it doesn’t fall apart. Its delicious on its own, or you can serve it with yogurt or ice cream if you fancy.

Note: I can never finish it all before it starts to lose its freshness, so I like to cut it into slices and then freeze to have for later.