A delightful fluffy vegan banana fig cake studded with chocolate chips and crunchy almonds.
We all have a favourite season. As I kid, I’d struggle between choosing summer or winter. But as an adult, I can confidently say I love love love summer. Because FRUIT AND SUNSHINE!
Summer is such an abundant season. If there’s such thing as an indecisive disorder, I think I have it. I need options and summer is full of them. The endless sunshine means that hiking trails open, lakes are warm enough to swim in, and fruit is ready to be picked. Picnics with friends at the park, fireworks at the beach, ice cream everyday, sticking my head into berry bushes to find the biggest blueberries, and bike rides through the forest are so quintessential of summer in Vancouver.
I spent the first half of my summer in Hawaii (read about my adventures here) so I knew that upon returning home, that I had to get going with my usual summer bucket list. Free time is a beautiful thing, and sometimes I like to be productive and clean out my closet for the first time in a decade, but other times I allow myself to do nothing and relax on the couch. I may not have biked as much as I had planned to, nor have I done all the hikes on my list, but there are many things I’m thankful for so far:
Discovering and conquering new hiking trails I love. Swimming in warm(ish) lakes. Getting a year’s worth of vitamin D by laying at the beach all day. Watching Canada Day fireworks. Exploring the Khatsalano street festival for the first time with university friends. Being able to pick up with old friends right where we left off in December. Eating ice cream all the time. Trying new restaurants. Dining al fresco at home with my parents. Having time to enjoy being at home and binge-watching The Bachelorette (who else is heartbroken for Peter?! and omg Dean *hearteyes*) Singing along to the country radio station with my friends while driving around town. Taking those friends around my suburban neighbourhood for the first time. Picking pounds and pounds of blueberries. My neighbour’s overgrown fig tree.
The last item being the star of this recipe.
My neighbour has these three massive fig trees that have grown over to our side of the fence. They produce incredible figs each season, ones that are the size of your palm and all jammy in the middle. While I love eating them with almond butter on toast, they’re great in a cake too! I’ve been on a banana cake kick for the past month; all I want to make is banana bread, banana muffins, and banana cake. In the past two weeks I’ve made banana zucchini cake (twice), banana blueberry muffins, and now this banana fig cake. Chew came back from Maui raving about the banana bread she had there, so that is probably what got us craving it. We were determined to curb that craving and made a loaf of Oh She Glows’ vegan banana bread, with a whole bar of chopped dark chocolate and slathered in tons of almond butter. It only got us craving more!
This vegan banana fig cake is an adaptation of Angela’s wonderful recipe. It’s fluffy, lightly sweetened, and absolutely delicious! Jammy figs adorn the top of this cake, making it a beautiful cake to serve at brunch parties or for afternoon tea.
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce*
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
- ⅓ cup unsweetened almond milk
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup oats
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1½ cup unbleached all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup vegan chocolate chips
- 5 large fresh figs, cut into halves
- ¼ cup almonds, roughly chopped
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients (banana to vanilla extract) with a whisk.
- In a small mixing bowl, roughly mix together the dry ingredients (coconut sugar to flour).
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and using a spatula, mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and transfer batter to prepared pan.
- Insert the halved figs into the batter and sprinkle chopped almonds over the top.
- Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Store leftovers in a sealed container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. Best enjoyed reheated for a few minutes in the oven.
Recipe adapted from Oh She Glows
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