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

Special Vegan Almond Cups with the Boy

 Been living with the boyfriend this week so it's taken me a while to get round to posting this but It's worth it, trust. Plus, I got a sue chef whilst making this awesome recipe..

The beau spooning out the vegan chocolate

Vegan Almond Butter, Banana, Maple cinnamon cups!

Ok every one loves (or should love) the classic Reeses combination of salty nutty peanut butter and sweet chocolate and I've seen a lot of home made and healthier versions around the food blog community. However, I wanted create something slightly special that wasn't just vegan chocolate and almond butter. So I added banana, raisins, cinnamon, and maple cinnamon contributing not just extra fucking fab-u-lous taste but extra fiber, potassium and slow releasing energy. Plus a fun little fact for you, bananas have levels of tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin -- the happy-mood brain neurotransmitter. There for bananas are believed to help with low moods and depression.

SO if your down make these you get chocolate and depression boosting tryptophan. Win win.

Special Vegan Almond Cups

Ingrediants
Bar of vegan chocolate
1/2 cup of almond butter
1 ripe banana
2 tbps of maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
hand full of raisins
large pinch of salt

The almond butter and chocolate I like to use

- Melt your chocolate over a double boiler or in a microwave (10 secs at a time)
- Line small cyclicone moulds or mini cup cake cases with the chocolate, smoothing it up the sides t
so it creates 'cups'. I used heart shaped moulds, cause I'm just that cute, and cup cake ones. Cover and leave in the fridge in set

- Mash your banana and fold into the almond butter along with the maple syrup, cinnamon, raisins and salt

- When the chocolate is set remove from molds and fill with nut butter mixture. decorate with sea salt crystals or flakes of vegan chocolate.

VOILAAA

Sweet, salty and smokey roasted Chickpea snack

Sweet, salty and smokey

Snacking has a notorious reputation for being fatty, high calorie and convenient. Even the 'healthy bag of nuts' option are often roasted in salt and fat with added preservatives. But lets face it snacking is not just a pleasure it is essential sometimes; It picks you up in a long active day, keeps you motivated in long periods of study and after work out snack are vital to repair muscles. So what you got to do is snack right!

Personally I think homemade snacks are the best, you know exactly whats in it, you can make large batches and store them making them cheaper and you can adjust the taste to exactly how you like it. Here i have come up with a snack that is a crazy crunchy creation- sweet, salty and smokey roasted chickpeas with apricots.

These have no added oil or sugar and are packed with protein, iron and fiber. The taste is inspired from Moroccan dishes where dried apricots and salty smokey savory flavors are often combined to amazing effect. The chickpeas do not taste like a tagine however but still pretty darn tasty and satisfying.

Sweet, Salty and Smokey Chickpea Snack

Ingerdiants
1/3 cup chickpeas
3 table spoons maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp of reduced sodium salt
1 garlic clove crushed
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (1 tsp if you like it hotter)
1/4 tsp cinnamon 
Freshly cracked black pepper
4 dried apricots

-Drain and rinse chickpeas and place in a clean tea towel. Fold the tea towel in half and rub the chickpeas around to losen their outer skins.
- Peal your chickpeas (this takes a while but worth it, trust)

- Lay on a baking tray and put in a 180 degree oven for 5-8 mins. I would advise you line your tray with tin foil as it makes cleaning up much easier, however we didn't seem to think foil was a useful thing to have on the shopping list this week..

- While the chickpeas are in the oven, mix the remain ingredients in the bottom of a medium mixing bowl. Taste, you may like it hotter, more salty, more Cinnamon just make sure its a punchy flavour as it will get milder when cooked.
-Remove the chickpeas from the oven and add to mixing bowl, toss in your sweet, salty, smokey mixture. Then place back on tray and bake till the chickpeas are crunchy, about 10-15 mins (they catch easily keep an eye on them) 
- When crunchy and done place in a clean mixing bowl and leave to cool. While they cool chop up you dried apricots and mix in with you chickpeas. Store in an air tight container once fully cooled ready when you need a good healthy snack. Bravisimo!

 

Sweet Potato Pie bites with A Nut crust and Maple Glaze, from Sneak Peak post

Here is my improved recipe from my 'sneak peak' post.

First make your own nut cream! This replaces the butter, cream or cream cheese that is often used in Sweet Potato Pie. If you don't have the time or patients to do this use a pre-bought vegan yogurt/cream, however it is much more satisfying to make your own.

Almond Vegan Cream

Ingredients
1/2 cup of raw almonds (cashews work aswell)
1  pitted date
1 tsp of vanilla
Water

-Soak your almonds for 3-4 hours or over night.
-Drain and add to a food processor along with the date and just enough water to cover the almonds. BLITZ!
- Once the mixture has created a smooth consistency pass through a sieve removing most the pulp. Because your not using a cheese cloth or a finer strainer as you would if you were making almond milk you get the consistency of double cream. Add vanilla and store in a air tight tub in the fridge till needed.

Sweet Potato Pie bites with A Nut crust and Maple Glaze

Ingrediants

Crust
1 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of cashews
5 soaked dates
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinamon
1 tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 oats
1/4 oat bran

- In a food processor blitz together pecans, cashews, and dates. Once the mixture looks like sticky dread crumbs place in a bowl and mix in other ingredients.
-In a square pan firmly spread mixture pressing it into the sides and corners to it resembles a crust.
-Bake at 180 Degrees Celsius till lightly golden and crisped. Set aside...

Filling
1 1/2 large sweet potato
1/2 cup of Almond vegan cream (or vegan yogurt/cream)
5-6 tbsp of maple syrup
 1 tsp of cinamon
1 tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp of grated lemon zest
1 tsp of vanilla extract
pinch of salt

- Cook sweet potatoes (microwave of oven roast them) until flesh is tender. Leave to cool and peal away skin and add flesh to a medium mixing bowl.
-Mash the sweet potato of blitz with a hand blender till it is a smooth puree.
- Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Fill your nut crust with the mixture and smooth out the top.
- Bake at 180 Degrees Celsius till the top is slightly golden, about 10 mins tops.

Glaze
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp of vanila

- Heat your ingredients in a small pan, when your pie is our the ovens spoon the heated glaze over the top and tilt the pan around to the glaze has full coverage.
- Switch your oven to grill and broil your pie for 5 mins maximum s not to burn your pie.

- Leave your pie to cool then remove and cut into squares. Voila!

Crumbly crust beware

Hozaaa!!!!!!

Served with soya yogurt and sprinkle of Cinnamon, fancy.

Enjoy Amigos