Banana Split Cake (vegan)

reading time: 4 min




If you've been a visitor of my blog for a little while, you've probably noticed I have a banana split theme going on for a couple of years now. After making healthy banana split smoothies this summer as well as banana split brownies for my mom's birthday and banana split cupcakes for my colleagues at work, I had planned to make some sort of a banana split cake for my boyfriend J's birthday this year.

There are always different options when it comes to banana split themed recipes. The basic components are always the same (banana – duh! –, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry/cherry), but the arrangement is flexible. For example, while I made a chocolate batter with cherries and banana for the brownies, topped with vanilla custard, banana slices and the obligatory cherry on top, I decided to change it up for the cupcakes, where I went for a vanilla banana batter, a strawberry vanilla buttercream icing, and melted chocolate and Maraschino cherries on top.

For the cake I went yet another route: banana-sweetened batter with chocolate chips and vanilla, then a filling with strawberry jam, vanilla custard and bananas, and a chocolate buttercream frosting, topped with Maraschino cherries. It's just so much fun to play around with the different options :)

Anyway, this cake is definitely more on the decadent side due to the buttercream frosting. It's  sweet, but also fruity from the strawberry jam. From the look of it the cake reminds me a bit of a Frankfurt crown cake – and also a little bit of a Christmas wreath 😂 It's delicious either way!
 

BANANA SPLIT CAKE

Preparation time: 2 hours
Main ingredients: flour, banana, chocolate
difficulty level: easy
makes: 1 cake
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, wheat-free, soy-free

Ingredients

Batter:
350g flour (I use spelt flour, type 1050)
2 tsp baking soda
100g ground nuts (e.g. almonds or hazelnuts)
2 tbsp flaxseed
200g raw cane sugar
pinch of salt
50g vegan chocolate chips
375 ml almond milk or other plant-milk
150g neutral oil, e.g. sunflower oil 
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence 


Filling: 
250ml almond milk or other plant-milk
1/2 package vanilla custard powder 
50g raw cane sugar
50ml vegan cream 
2-3 bananas, sliced
6 tbsp strawberry jam

Frosting:
200g vegan butter, room temperature
50g vegan chocolate chips
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Topping:
16 Maraschino cherries, fresh cherries or raspberries
chopped nuts (e.g. walnuts, almonds, peanuts)
cacao nibs or chopped chocolate

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 °C / 350 °F.

For the batter mix all dry ingredients, i.e. flour, baking soda, sugar, ground nuts and salt, in a mixing bowl. Combine well. Then add the wet ingredients, i.e. the mashed bananas, almond milk, sunflower oil, ACV and vanilla essence. Stir until everything is evenly distributed. Fold in the chocolate drops. 

Grease a spring-form pan or – as I recommend – a bundt tin. Transfer the dough into the baking tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C / 350°F for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool, then carefully remove from the baking tin.

In the meantime, prepare the custard filling.

To a small bowl, add the custard powder along with 50g of raw sugar and 6 tbsp of your measured plant-based milk, and whisk thoroughly. Slowly heat up the remaining milk. Once it's close to a boil, stir in the dissolved custard powder / sugar mix. Whisk and stir for a minute or so, then remove from heat. Immediately pour in the vegan cream and stir until combined. Allow to cool completely.

For the chocolate frosting, melt 50g of vegan dark chocolate. Once it's melted, beat together vegan butter and powdered sugar. Slowly add in the melted chocolate and beat until fluffy. Put in the fridge for 15 minute to firm a little.

To assemble, cut the cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Spread a layer of strawberry jam onto the bottom half. Cut your bananas in half lengthwise (as you would for a banana split ice cream) and place the halves onto the jam. Spread a layer of custard onto the banana halves, then place the remaining cake half on top and press gently.

NOTE: Since I used a spring-form I needed to cut out the centre of the cake (don't worry, I turned it into a smaller second cake, so nothing was wasted 😉), but if you use a bundt tin you won't have to do that as it will already have the ring form!

Spread the chocolate frosting all over the top, and garnish with Maraschino cherries (raspberries also look great!), chopped nuts (I used walnuts) and cacao nibs or chopped chocolate.

Place in the fridge for another 20 minute or so to set. Then: enjoy!



Also have a look at my other Banana Split recipes:

https://be-alice.blogspot.com/2016/07/banana-split-oatmeal-vegan.html
Banana Split Oatmeal (vegan)
http://be-alice.blogspot.com/2015/11/classic-banana-split-raw-vegan.html
Banana Split (raw vegan)


Maisy

0 Comments