Cake-baker comes up with vegan banana bread recipe

Benjamina Ebuehi grew up in a Nigerian family in London, and her interest in cooking began when her mother bought her a child’s baking book. As she continued to learn and work her way through other cookbooks, she says it was the chapters on cakes that interested her the most. She began to create her own recipes, gravitating toward “putting flavors at the forefront without overshadowing them with decoration.”

Her passion for baking led to an appearance on The Great British Bake Off in 2016, where she created a white chocolate and salted praline cake for the show’s Cake Week.

Now, she has a cookbook, The

New Way to Cake, which features her stripped-down, flavor-forward recipes.

Ebuehi’s vegan version includes peanut butter for what she calls a “sweet-and-salty contrast.” She says her favorite way to eat this is “lightly toasted to crisp up the edges, with salted butter.”

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

4 small ripe bananas, divided use

3 tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

½ cup vegetable oil

5 tablespoons almond or soy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, use a fork to mash 3 bananas. Mix in the peanut butter, oil, milk and vanilla and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined.

Slice the remaining banana in half lengthwise. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and gently place the sliced banana on top without overlapping the slices or pushing them into the batter. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Leave to cool completely before slicing.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.