Dairy-free Squidgy Banana Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 10 people

Calories per serving: 417

Photo courtesy of my friend Mel



So, here is my very first recipe, and it's one I created completely from scratch using my own knowledge of baking, taking a few hints from other recipes for the basic structure, and simply experimenting. This recipe is quite advanced, particularly the caramel. And judging the difference between an under-cooked cake and a cake that’s squidgy but cooked isn’t easy. But I’ll offer a few pointers along the way.

I should just add that this recipe is absolutely delicious! I've never tasted such a wonderful banana cake (even if I do say so myself!).

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 80g pecan nuts (broken up in a pestle and mortar)
• 350g over-ripe bananas (mashed)
• 160g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 165g golden caster sugar

Salted Caramel Sauce:

• 120ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 155g light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 170C/ 150C fan oven. Grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin.
• Using an electric whisk, cream the non-dairy, non-soya spread with the golden caster sugar until it is turning slightly pale. This usually takes 3-5 minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of flour with each, to prevent curdling, whisking into the mixture until smooth. Add the bananas and whisk briefly to ensure they’re properly mixed in.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture, folding in gently. Stir through the vanilla extract, vegetable oil (this makes the cake extra squishy) and pecan nuts.
• Place the cake mix into the cake tin and bake for around 1 hour 20 minutes. You’ll need to check the cake to see it’s progress… press gently on the top. It should spring back but still feel a little sticky. Stick a skewer into the centre. It should come out clean. As I said it’s not easy to judge a squishy cake, but if it’s not cooked enough when you take it out of the tin you can always put it in the oven for longer.
• Leave in the tin for ten minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Salted Caramel Sauce:

• Place the coconut milk, coconut oil, brown sugar, golden syrup and salt into a saucepan. Place on a medium heat and whisk continuously until the mixture starts to heat up. Whisk constantly! Do not allow to burn! Once the mixture starts to simmer, reduce the heat and boil for around 6 minutes. (When I made this I didn’t cook it long enough and it wasn’t thick enough and didn’t taste much like caramel. I put it back on the heat and tried for longer). Eventually the mixture will start to darken and the predominant smell will be caramel, not coconut. It will also be considerably thicker. Don’t take it too far or it will be ruined. (If in doubt, take it off the heat and allow to cool. If it’s not thick enough, put it back on the heat like I did). Once you’re convinced it’s cooked enough, remove from the heat and beat in the vanilla extract.

• Drizzle over the cooled cake whilst the caramel is still a little warm. Serve.