Once upon a time I made these chocolate banana penguin things for my Vegan Bites bit on Spoon University’s Insta stories. They were fun. Putsy, but fun.

In an ideal world, the feet and noses were to be made with orange candies. But I didn’t have any and wasn’t motivated to spend money on a bag of them only to use a few (Spoon doesn’t pay me for VB for the record, and I buy all the materials for cooking with my own money…and as a grad student I have about $40 a week to feed, water and caffeinate myself…so I gotta be selective with where my money goes) so I improvised and used cut carrots.

While eating them and being like wow bananas and carrots frozen together is rather awkward, I had an epiphany that perhaps baked together they’d be delightful. And so, the incident inspired this Vegan Carrot Cake Banana Bread.

So a few weeks later, I made some. And now I’m going to share it with you. I ended up enjoying the loaf. I think I like carrot cake as dessert with lots of icing and banana bread the regular way the best, but this was a really fun way to mix it up. Truly, if you like carrot cake and/or banana bread, you will probably enjoy this recipe. If you want, you can add a vegan cream cheese icing on top.

Personally, I wanted it as a not-too-sweet snacking/breakfast loaf, so this is the frosting-less route I went. But you do you. Live your best life.

I made this recipe with shredded coconut, too, and eventually decided it distracted too much from the rest of it and have concluded it is better without it. If you want dem coconut shreds tho, add in about 1/4 cup unsweetened.

Cheers to 2018, baking new things, and of course, BANANAS!

For regular banana bread, click here.

For dog banana bread, click here.

Vegan Carrot Cake Bread

Prep Time: 1 hour

Bake Time: 30-40 minutes

Yield: 1 loaf Ingredients:

2 large very-ripe mashed bananas (or 2.5 small)

3/4 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup vegan butter, softened (or sub neutral oil like canola or vegetable)

1/3 cup brown or coconut sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (can sub regular whole-wheat, all-purpose or additional oat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 cup oat flour (made by pulsing rolled oats in a food processor or blender until a flour forms)

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons ground flax (can sub chia seeds)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup pecans

1/4 cup raisins or golden raisins

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a banana loaf pan with softened non-dairy butter or oil. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Shred carrots, or pulse into small pieces in a food processor. Set carrots aside Add melted butter or oil, sugar, non-dairy milk, and vanilla to bananas. Whisk together. In a separate bowl, combine whole wheat flour, almond meal, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, rolled oats and flax in a bowl. Whisk together until combined. Add half of dry mixture to wet. Fold together. Add remaining dry ingredients, and fold again. Add walnuts, pecans, and raisins to the mixture. Fold until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 45-60 minutes until fragrant, lightly golden, and a toothpick or fork inserted in the center comes out clean upon insertion and removal. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Slice and enjoy.

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