A Tale of Two Vegan Banana Bread Recipes

Those who have known me for a long time know that I love to bake and, to an only slightly lesser extent, cook. Baking has always been one of my go-to stress-relieving activities. During the final year of my undergraduate degree, I was also working full-time and raising a teenager. Whenever frustration or writer’s block set in, I would drop everything and make a batch of cookies or a loaf of banana bread. Doing something constructive — and usually successful — helped clear my brain.

Learning to Bake Without Eggs or Dairy

About six weeks ago, I became vegan. I might talk more about that another time. It was a gradual process that began the previous autumn when I returned to being vegetarian. Eliminating eggs and dairy seemed like the natural next step. I don’t really miss either of them, but the change has made one of my favourite pastimes slightly more challenging.

My adventures in vegan baking have been fairly limited so far. However, I have accumulated a healthy supply of recipes on Pinterest — my absolute favourite place for recipes and photos of Benedict Cumberbatch. Sadly, I don’t have many people to bake for at the moment. My roommate, also known as my stepmum, is watching her calorie intake, and my daughter lives more than 2,000 miles away.

The Successful Vegan Banana Bread

I have attempted a couple of vegan banana bread recipes. The first was a success: a classic vegan banana bread from Where You Get Your Protein. It was moist, with a good texture and flavour, and I doubt anyone would have known it was vegan.

The Blueberry Banana Bread Experiment

My next attempt came a couple of evenings later. I had blueberries in the freezer from the previous year’s crop—yes, we had a few blueberry bushes—that needed to be used. I also had some ripe bananas, so I found a promising recipe on Pinterest for gluten-free vegan blueberry banana bread.

This loaf was not quite as successful. It wasn’t a failure, and I don’t blame the recipe—especially as I didn’t follow it exactly. I used some all-purpose flour instead of making it completely gluten-free because that wasn’t necessary in our household.

The bigger issue was that the recipe contained no added sugar. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing when your bananas are particularly sweet and flavourful, but mine were not. The poor blueberries simply couldn’t do all the work.

I haven’t given up on the blueberry banana bread, so there will probably be another attempt. Next time, I’ll add a little sweetener, as suggested in the original post. I must also give it a big thumbs-up for appearance: the blueberries gave the loaf a lovely burst of colour.

Of the two, the classic vegan banana bread was the clear winner, but both were worth trying. Give them a go and see what you think. And if you have a favourite vegan baking recipe, please leave it in the comments. I’m always looking for something new to try.