2010: Vegan Banana Agave Snack Cake (Plus: the cold, the knitting and the excercise)

A great, potassium-laden cake full of yummy flavors, and, of course, dressed in frosting--what's the point otherwise. I decorated it with a few slices of nanners--just to show it's flavor inside!

Un-cut version of banana goodness.

Me in my new cowl--I love it! Warm and comes down past the shoulders, knitted in the round on size thirteen needles, guage is 8",  holding two strands of Lion Brand together. Bought several colors in purple, gray and pink. Love this!

This is my first post for the new year. I was never one for being uptight about anything related to time in general. Time passes, that is all I know--the faster, the better I say. I'll be another year older and so will we all. It is four degrees outside this morning. A cold front from Canada has settled in here in the Midwest and we are left to layering to stay warm (I do not like a furnace running all day and night--I keep the temp pretty low to avoid the "snake skin" I tend to get in winter), plus mugs of hot tea throughout the day and little-to-no outdoor activity. I am not cold averse by any means. I love cold. But in single digits, that desire to throw on my running gear for a quick four or five miles wanes. If there were snow, my outside desire may inch up a notch or two. I love snow. But this, no. So, yesterday I had procrastinated enough--I renewed our gym membership and got in five miles of treadmill running. Oh joy. A good hard five miles. It felt great. But by the time I had made it back home, I was wiped out--walking to the car, then to the house was about all I could handle.


On the other hand, one of my seed catalogs arrived. I am very slowly getting excited about spring planting, but would probably not buy my seeds from any seed company because that would involve a little bit too much planning. I am not that organized, nor that motivated for picking out seeds preferring my last minute manic desire to be fed by a trip to Wal Mart or Home Depot. Plus, I truly think you can get overly zealous with seed selection only to be left with a plastic container of "unplanted" seeds by fall that you stare at wondering: What was I thinking? I do like thumbing through the colorful and informative pages--like a little botany lesson. But ordering, no. Not yet.

My craving for vegan sweets has only increased ten-fold during the past cold snap. I now have sitting in my fridge a banana snack cake (recipe below) with vegan orange buttercream frosting and my favorite snack: vegan chocolate cupcakes--made like the ones sold by Hostess. I just love them--I've had two a night--which with my calculation comes out to be equal to about one slice of cake if you take the cake and frosting ratio into consideration! (*Another good reason for renewing the gym membership.)

Been knitting a lot. Working on a cardigan--I love it and can't wait to finish it--doing it in a smoky gray. And, picked out more gray yarn for a quick cowl neck pullover I'd like to begin soon. I love gray. I am not a "multiple project" knitter. I can only handle so much at once. If I feel too much pressure to knit--I will just freeze up and stop--what good is that? I had a tiny contest with myself. I fell in love with a knitting pattern in Vogue Winter 2009. It was a cowl pattern by Cathy Carron (who is an amazing knitting designer). According to trends, the cowl will be all the rage in the coming seasons. (Adding a bit of variety and spice to the ubiquitous scarf.) I knit my version up in three nights. I finished it on New Year's Eve. I opted to not knit it up in the yarn suggested as that would have required me to spend the equivalent of a car payment for the yarn--I am a bit frugal in that area. So, I hit Michael's and their end of year yarn sale and made this for half the cost, incorporating a color scheme for it that worked up quite nicely if I don't say so myself. (I am wearing it in the photo.) I am even tempted to post it on ravelry.com--I have yet to post a single finished object and still "lurk". It is crazy, I know. But I lurk on a lot of sites.

I'd like to begin spinning my own yarn. This seems like a natural progression for someone like me. I love tactile pursuits. And with knitting, the intimacy you have with your yarn is something that can really only be explained or appreciated by knitters themselves. I have been researching the drop spindle spinning or a little portable spinner that's called the Mother Marion--requiring you to use your foot for spinning the wheel (but not in the traditional "spinning wheel" you imagine--this is very portable and small), leaving your hands free and less sore from repetitive motions from using the drop spindle. I sound like I know what I am talking about here--I don't but have made several inquiries about which way to begin should I decide to pursue this.

Let me leave today with the cake I made and still have sitting in the fridge. I bought this wonderful little cookbook called, Baking with Agave Nectar by Ania Catalano. Baking with agave is a wonderful alternative to baking with sugar. Not only are you reducing the glycemic index, you are also adding a sweetness that is, to me, a notch above refined sugar. The caution here is that when you modify a recipe using agave, you must reduce your liquids by a third. The math for this can be cumbersome, so I thought having a cookbook that already did the math for me would be a great idea. I won't say I've baked my way through this book yet. I had been craving a banana cake like mad. I was desperate for a non-box version of my own creation.(I think the last banana cake I had was, in fact, from a box). So I settled on the cake in her book, only making my modifications. I have to get my hands on barley flour. I seem to keep missing it when I hit Whole Foods. Her banana cake recipe calls for it. Her cake is also a double decker. I wanted my cake to be more like a snack cake and just enough for a few nights of late night treats. I made the modifications to it to create a single layer cake. In lieu of the barley flour I did not have on hand, I used half unbleached all-purpose and half whole wheat. This worked nicely, but might not be for everyone. I will tell you honestly, this cake is not my husband's favorite creation (more cake for me). I will also tell you honestly, this cake tastes better after a night in the fridge. After having a slice after it baked, I was struck with it's flavor--hard to describe--almost too healthy tasting. Is there such a thing. Yes. I will admit it. After slathering it with my favorite orange buttercream frosting--it was much better--and keeping it in the fridge overnight--it is the perfect snack cake.
Enjoy!

Vegan Banana Agave Snack Cake

1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 plus 1/8 cup canola oil
3 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 4 tablespoons warm water
3 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1/8 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
*Orange buttercream frosting: linked here (you won't need the whole recipe, so you may want to make a half batch)

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly spray a 9" cake pan with oil. Prep the Ener-G egg replacer mixture in a small bowl, set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the agave, canola oil, ener-g egg replacer, bananas and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients together, whisk well to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients to the oil mixture and blend with a hand mixer on low just until it is incorporated. A few lumps are okay. It will all bake out. Pour batter into the cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Test with a toothpick at end of baking for doneness. Also, be sure to have the edges turning brown and pulling away from the sides of the cake pan. You will smell this cake as it completes cooking, but don't use this as a sign of it being done--it does need to bake until fully baked through otherwise it may collapse in the middle and leave you unhappy. Just watch it the last few minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool completely and then frost it and enjoy!