Vegan Sour Cream Banana Smash Cake

My daughter turned ONE this weekend and I cannot believe that it has been a YEAR!!! It feels like yesterday that I had my youngest baby girl. At this rate, I understand why it is easy to continue adding to a family. I know, that was funny, but there are no plans right now, right God?

I never really believed it when people told me that once I had my second child that things are just not as important as it was with your first child. It is so true! Well not on;y that, but planning a little cake and time with family was not as inspirational when the whole family is sick. I contemplated making anything and postponing having the birthday girl eat her cake, but truth be told, she does not let anything get in her way. My youngest loves food and ate her entire little smash cake.

It is so true when those moms told me that when I planned, things might not go the way I envisioned them and when I hardly planned things would go really well. Well this is also true. My oldest’s birthday was quite a disaster for me personally even making me cry. Even though it was just our family and my sister with her husband, I was disappointed but all that was washed away with her second birthday.

My youngest was a doll even though she was a snotty mess. Since my baby girl has been teething and nursing a cold you would think she would not have any interest in sweets or cake, but I placed a little cake in front of her with the candle and she admired and stared at her little candle. I helped with blowing the candle and proceeded to place the plate in front of her. She did not know what to do.

She leaned in a few times, wanting to take a bite of it but refrained almost as though it was not proper. She finally grabbed the icing and started feeding herself. She was smacking away and then she grabbed her first layer, the WHOLE layer, and brought it to her lips and took a bite. I took so many pictures because it was so cute! I, of course, made Julianne a separate cake for her to enjoy and a bigger cake for mom and dad to enjoy later.

What kind of cake did I make? Well, I had made a pumpkin cake for Julianne for her first birthday but I decided to make a banana cake for Kathleen because she really likes bananas. I made her cake vegan even though she has been eating eggs.

I took a regular recipe for banana cake that called for sour cream and used So Delicious’ new cultured coconut milk as a substitute and chia seeds as an egg substitute. The cultured coconut milk was delicious and made the cake turn out very moist. I loved that it did not call for any oil or butter but just the sour cream and bananas. I liked that which is why I chose to make a cream cheese icing. Yum!

Vegan Sour Cream Banana Smash Cake

by Noelle Kelly

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients (makes 2 small smash cakes and 1-9-inch cake)

FOR THE CAKE

2 cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoons Salt
2 chia “eggs” (2 Tbsp chia seeds + 3 Tbsp warm water) (egg sub)
1 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup So Delicious cultured coconut milk (Sour Cream sub)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 whole ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

Cream Cheese Icing

1 tub of Tofutti cream cheese (vegan)
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon So Delicious coconut milk
Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

For cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray and 2 small CorningWare ramekins.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside.

In a large bowl, mix chia seeds and warm water and set aside for 5 minutes until it becomes sticky. Whisk in the sugar.

Stir in cultured coconut milk, dry ingredients, vanilla extract and bananas, just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into prepared pan and dishes and bake approximately 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Smaller ramekins will cook in 30 min.

Cool completely and prepare icing.

For icing

To make the icing, in a medium bowl, cream the cream cheese and add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar plus the coconut milk and add in powdered sugar until it is used.

Assembly

Split each small cake in half to make a layer cake. Add 2 Tablespoons of icing in the middle of cake and place on lower layer of mini cake. Ice the rest of the little smash cake with 4 more Tablespoons. Decorate with candle and sprinkles.

For larger cake, ice the top of the 9-inch cake on just the top. DO not ice sides but it is up to the baker. Add sprinkles on top. Serve.

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I am happy to have a sour cream / plain yogurt non-dairy substitute for our family and I look forward sharing another recipe soon. In the meantime, our family continues to savor the bigger cake.