Almost Vegan Cornmeal Snack Cake Recipe

Dry Ingredients:

Wet Ingredients:

Yield: 16 pieces (I used a 9×13 inch pan)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 175C/350F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with butter/non stick cooking spray. I lined it with parchment paper and then greased it also with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl combine together all the dry ingredients reserving the 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips.

3. Mash 1 large ripe banana with a fork. I chopped the banana and used some of the milk to grind it into a creamy paste. Mix together all the wet ingredients together and stir it well.

4. Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine it well without any lumps. I used another 1/4 cup of water to get the required consistency.

5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Smooth it out with a spatula dipped in hot water and top it with the reserved chocolate chips.

6. Bake it for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Mine was done in 22 minutes.

7. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely before you can remove the cake from the pan. After it is completely cooled, invert the cake pan to remove the cake and cut it into pieces.

My Notes:

1. I have included a couple of healthy substitutes to the already healthy snack cake. Instead of 1 cup of regular size butterscotch chips, I have used 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips. Instead of 1 cup of melted butter I have used 1/3 cup of oil, 2/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce and increased the quantity of mashed bananas from 1 cup to 1 and 1/4 cups.

2. I have also used brown rice milk instead of dairy milk. The original recipe used whole wheat flour and regular cornmeal, which I have substituted with whole wheat pastry flour and whole cornmeal.

3. Where I live I was able to fine almond meal and walnut meal ready made. If you are not able to find it readily, process nuts of your choice in a food processor until its finely powdered.

4. The sweetness was just right for us. Viji had used 1 cup of dates, which I replaced with 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and also included 1 cup of chopped pistachios. Maybe that’s the reason my cake was not very sweet. I think if I had used the dates the cake would have been very sweet.

5. With so many ingredients in the cake, we couldn’t feel the presence of cardamom. So if you are a spice fan increase the quantity to 1 teaspoon instead of 1/2 teaspoon.

6. I was on a tight schedule on the day I was going to bake this cake. So I prepared the dry ingredients the previous night itself. So it was just mixing in the wet ingredients and baking the next day.