Vegan Banana & Courgette Cake Recipe

Ah hello my beautiful loaf cake.

I’ve tried loaf cakes before but often experienced the dense soggyness of disappointment. Not this time, this vegan banana cake came out with a beautiful texture and lightness. Yum nom nom.

Let’s get started!

You will need:

2 overripe large bananas

½ average sized courgette grated finally

75g coconut oil (or vegetable oil if you prefer)

75g brown sugar

225g self raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

handful of chopped nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius and line a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Mash bananas well. Grate courgette straight into the bowl and then mix well with the oil and sugar.
3. Fold in flour, baking powder and spices and then the chopped nuts if you are including these.
4. Pour mixture into your lined loaf tin. I like to sprinkle pumpkin seeds on the top for added crunch and joy. You can omit these or sprinkle with a topping of your choice.
5. Bake for 20 mins initially. Remove from oven and cover with tin foil to prevent the top from burning. Bake for further 40-50 mins until skewer comes out clean.
6. Cool for 10 mins before removing from tin and leave to cool completely on a rack or on top of the tin. (Alternatively lose all self control and immediately slice and devour.) Tastes excellent by itself or even better with a generous slab of soya spread.

There you have it, super easy, delicious and earth friendly vegan loaf cake.

Have a great week

Jessica x

Sources: I got the original recipe from BBC Good Food here (that website is such a lifesaver) and this recipe is a modified version of it. 

Vegetable Lentil Dahl

Easy lentils for easy meals, Simples.

Ingredients

tbsp olive oil

1 cloves garlic

1 x finely chopped onion

1 x grated courgette

3 x grated carrot

1 x veggie stock cube

350 gms red lentils

salt and pepper for seasoning

Herbs of your choosing (I like a sprig of rosemary)

Method

Fry the onion, courgette and carrot in the olive oil in a big saucepan or frying pan until the mixture softens and starts to go brown. Mix in the stock cube and a splash of boiling water. Continue to stir for 2 mins. Use a hand blender to blitz the mixture in the pan so it’s quite fine. Gradually add 750ml of boiling water. Once the water is combined pour in the lentils and simmer for 20-25 mins. Use a hand whisk to help the lentils break down (if you’re using your best pan try using a silicone whisk to prevent scratches.) It’s done once the lentils have soaked up the liquid and have gone nice and soft.

After cooking you can eat straight away as a side dish or on it’s own with some salad and bread. Russell discovered by accident that it tastes good as a topper to hummus on toast!

You can vary the vegetables you use depending on what’s in your fridge, great for using up veg that might be on the turn.

Keep leftovers in the fridge in a tightly sealed tupperware container for up to 3 days.

Happy cooking!

Jessica x