Banana Roll Cake with cashew and walnut cream

Last two weeks I have been in rehearsals for Great Expectations (which is playing at The Nuffield Theatre Southampton 4th - 7th) so I haven't been able to get to my beloved kitchen to bake. And boy have I missed it. So on my day off, no one was going to stop me knocking up a cake. 

OH YEAH. Also we have a new blender that actually works! So now I can make all variety's of vegan creams and sauces to add to my cakes. So really, nothing was going to stop me.

My dad came home with these tiny over ripe bananas  that he got cheep for me to bake with, as we all know the riper, browner and uglier the banana the better the cake. However instead of a plain banana cake I wanted something more exiting. Inspired by my friend Adam from rehearsals (who ate about 6 mini rolls in 10 minuets and put all the wrappers in my bag) I made a banana roll cake filled with cashew and walnut cream flavored with maple syrup (cause I can do that now i have a decent fucking blender). The nut cream is great, so much better then a butter or margarine based icing, not only for the added nutty taste but the fact that its much more nutritionally good for you! packed with omega 3, protein and good fats that are need for your brain. Also the cake uses whole meal flour and maple syrup to reduce the refined sugar and white flour content, increasing the fiber, nutrition and lowering the GI index of the cake. Plus it taste bloody good. Here is the recipe my friends.. 

Tiny Banana's! The whole bunch fits in my hand

 Banana Roll Cake with cashew and walnut cream

Ingredients

Cake

125g wholemeal self raising flour

100g plain self raising flour

3 tbps maple syrup

3 tbsp vegtable oil (or any flavorless oil)

2 tbsp of brown sugar (you may need to change this according to the sweetness of your bananas)

1/4 cup coconut milk (or any vegan milk substitute)

2 cups of mashed very ripe banana

pinch of saltheaped tsp of cinnamon

-Sieve your flours, the salt and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl, set aside.

- In a separate bowl combine all the other ingredients and mash together. Taste and see if your banana's need more sugar or not.

The bad boy pre-oven

- Add your wet mixture to the flour and fold together. The less times you fold through the mixture the lighter your sponge will be.Line a tray with grease proof paper and spread mixture out evenly. Bake at 180 degrees till cooked (about 15 mins) 

- When cooked remove from oven, and lift out using the grease proof paper and trim the edges. You may need to cut the top of the cake to make a thinner sponge depending on how thinly you spread your mixture.  Whilst warm roll into a log shape and leave to cool in this position (this will help when re-rolling it up with the filling later)

Cashew and Walnut Cream

1/3 cup walnuts

1/3 cup cashews

4/5 small dates

1 tbsp of maple syrup

- Soak your nuts in water for 3-4 hours

- Drain the nuts and place in a blender along with the dates and enough water just to barely cover the other ingredients. Blitz till a smooth cream is formed.

- Remove from blender and stir in maple syrup

Assembly

Chopped walnuts

Cinnamon

-Roll your sponge out flat again and spread a layer of your cashew and walnut cream. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

-Carefully roll back up your sponge

- Decorate with remaining cashew and walnut cream, chopped walnuts and a sprinkling of cinnamon. 

Voilaaaaaaa

Emotional Baking and Sweet Vegan Hand Pies

When I am emotional I tend to bake.
It allows me too:
a) feel in control of something in my life
b) calms me and focus my mind on to something that isn't stressing me
c) create something positive (good food) that i can give to others to make them feel good, there by making me feel better.

In general my emotional baking sessions create something quite wonderful. Last night and this morning was one of those occasions. I made two different vegan hand pies, PBJ and Chunky monkey ones. These are cute, vaguely healthy compared to other pies and vegan. This was my first shot at vegan pastry and it's actually not that hard. I added a little peanut butter to my pastry mix to add not only extra taste to the crust but to enrich and help form the dough like extra butter or an egg would. I found this really worked and the added healthy fat helped the flakiness of the pastry.

Vegan PB Pastry

Ingrediants
225g of plain flour (to make healthier use half wholemeal half white, or your own flour combination)
100g of vegan baking fat (margarine/vegan butter)
2 tbsp of natural smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp of agave (or other liquid sweetener)
tsp of salt
Couple of tbsp of ice cold water

-Weigh out your margarine or vegan butter. Cut into little chunks and place in the freezer.
- Weigh out your flour and add the salt place it in a large mixing bowl in the fridge, it's important to get your ingredients as cold as possible with pastry.

-While the other ingredients are getting cold mix together you peanut butter and agave so the combine and make a thick gloop.
-Take your cold margarine or vegan butter and cut it into your cold flour. After the fat is cut into small chunks and coated in flour use cold hands or a pastry utensil rub the vegan baking fat into the flour till it resembles rough bread crumbs.

adding the beautiful PB

- Add the peanut butter mixture and cut into your flour bread crumbs. Then add your ice water gradually till your dough comes together into a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest till needed.

Todahhhhh

Vegan PBJ Hand Pies

Ingredients
Half your vegan pastry
1/2 cup of roughly diced strawberries
1/4 cup reduced sugar vegan strawberry jam
2-3 tbsp of natural peanut butter
1 tsp of cornstarch
3 tbsp of almond milk

- Mix together your strawberries, jam and flour.
- Take small balls of pastry (about the size of a ping pong ball) and roll out into disks on a floured bored
- Mentally divide the disk in half, on the upper half of the disk smear, liberally, with peanut butter leaving 1/2cm clear around the edge.

- Place a tsp of the strawberry mixture in the center of the upper half then fold the bottom half up to enclose the filling. Crimp the edges to seal and place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper.
- Repeat until all the pastry is used up (6-8 pies) then with a sharp knife or fork prick wholes in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape. Then with a pasty brush lightly coat the pies with almond milk.

Babies pre-oven

- Place in a 180 degree oven for 10-15 minuets till the pastry is golden 

 Chunky Monkey Vegan Hand Pies

Ingredients
Half your vegan pastry
2 tsp of cocoa powder
2 tsp of agave (or other liquid sweeter)
3 tbsp of natural peanut butter
pinch of salt
1 banana

-  Mix together your cocoa powder, salt and agave to form a thick chocolate syrup. Fold in your peanut butter till fully combined. Slice your banana into half circles.

- Take small balls of pastry (about the size of a ping pong ball) and roll out into disks on a floured bored
- Mentally divide the disk in half, on the upper half of the disk smear, place a tsp of the chocolate peanut butter mixture and flatten with a knife leaving 1/2cm clear around the edge.

- Place 4 banana pieces on top of the chocolate peanut butter mixture then fold the bottom half up to enclose the filling. Crimp the edges to seal and place on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper.

- Repeat until all the pastry is used up (6-8 pies) then with a sharp knife or fork prick wholes in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape. Then with a pasty brush lightly coat the pies with almond milk. Place in a 180 degree oven for 10-15 minuets till the pastry is golden 

Voilaaaa