The Banana Cakewalk

Okay, that title just sounded fun, in reality, what I did was make something out of what I had lying around so that I could share it with my friends. Also, one of the friends is allergic to dairy, so I adapted my recipe to make to where we all could enjoy the cake.

It was fun.

Hmm. I might have gotten ahead of myself. Tonight is weekly game night sometimes only dinner and friend BS sesh night. One of my friends is bringing homemade green chile chicken chili, so I said I would whip up a dessert. I kinda already had a flavor profile in mind as there were two very ripe bananas on my kitchen counter. Also, my sourdough starter needed a discard and a feeding. I was thinking a sourdough discard cake might be nice.

One of my friends though, as mentioned above is allergic to dairy. So, I got out my trusty notepad and began conceptualizing comestible greatness. Or at least that's what I like to think I was doing.

After a bit of scribbling and mathing, I had a workable recipe. And I must admit, as the cake took shape I wasn't too sad about the result.

Part of the reason I made a cake was that I had a whole bunch of Earth Balance Vegan Butter sticks in my fridge from the week before as I made dairy-free sourdough garlic bread for game night last week. It seemed fitting to use up the rest of that product on a cake and faux buttercream. (I tasted the buttercream before I adorned the cake, it was definitely a good idea to go the route I did).

So now, now I am sitting here typing this, waiting for my friends to arrive. The waiting is a bit torturous as it smells like banana sourdough discard cake heaven in my house at the moment. I'll survive. Maybe. Probably.

I'm also a little distracted because my offspring just walked in the door a bit ago after being gone for the last 24 hours, he strode in, gave me a big hug, and handed me this:

Yep, he's all sworn in and leaves us in July to become a sailor in the US Navy. My grandpa is smiling in the afterlife right now. Honestly he's also probably chuckling, as he and the hubs had quite a Navy/Army rivalry going. We also have Marines too, it's always a good time around here when everyone gets together.

So in the end, whipping up a cake was a grand idea, as we have a lot to celebrate 😊

Dairy-free Banana Sourdough Discard Cake

2 medium over ripe bananas or 1 1/2 large bananas
1 cup of unsweetened almond or cocoa nut milk (I used a bit of both)
8 TBSP Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (1 stick softened)
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sourdough discard
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for a glass pan, 325 degrees for a metal pan, grease the pan.

In a blender, put the almond milk and banana and pulse until well blended

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and well-combined.

Add the eggs, starter, and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until well combined.

Add the banana milk mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, add flour, salt, and baking powder, whisk together.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined (don't overmix!)

Bake in preheated oven for 37-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!!