Hiya vegan food lovers!
Today’s vegan recipe isn’t so much a recipe as it is a post-mortem analysis, which I know sounds terrible but I watch a lot of true crime and here we are.
So last month was my hub’s birthday and he asked if I could make a banana cream cake. My response? “You mean like a banana cream pie?”
Him: “Yeah, but a cake.”
Me: “Sure I’ll give it a try.”
My Grand Idea
I thought this would be the perfect time to work on my layer cake skills. I’m a very proficient home cook, as in everything will be delicious but it not look delicious, hence my hesitation when it comes to layer cakes.
No better time to try than the husband’s birthday, right? Hahaha, but for real. My plan was to make a two layer round cake with fresh bananas and banana pudding in the middle, and a banana vanilla frosting on top. Pretty simple, or so I thought.
The Shining Star
My so-called bright idea was to make the cake banana cake so it was really OTT banana flavor because he loves my banana desserts. The cake came out moist and fluffy and very banana-y without being overwhelming. Source: me, not a banana lover.
I used the same method for my banana bread, but with more moisture and less flour so it’s not quite as dense.
Problems
For starters, I was a lazy vegan bum and I decided to scour the aisles of Kaufland and Lidl in search of instant pudding that was also vegan. Spoiler alert: I only found one option and it was a generic Kaufland brand.
It was…terrible. I followed the recipe exactly using plant milk and sugar and it was totally tasteless. I added flavor drops and it was marginally better but not much. I was pretty put off by it but the hubs said it didn’t “ruin” the cake.
Agree to disagree, Sir.
Otherwise the cake came out pretty well, but I wish I would’ve just taken the extra 15 or so minutes to make the pudding from scratch.
The Frosting
The frosting was delicious. It was a mixture of cocogurt (vegan coconut yogurt), vanilla and powdered sugar. I whipped the hell out of it until stiff peaks formed and it worked out well. Honestly all the other components of this vegan banana cream cake masked the gross pudding so I don’t know why I keep bringing up except I was really unhappy with it.
The Verdict
It was a good vegan birthday cake and if you spend the extra minutes to make the pudding yourself, this cake will be a superstar hit. Then again, depending on where you are in the world you might have access to really good vegan instant pudding and if you are, feel free to tell me the brand and drop a link in the comments.
I like to go all out for my hub’s birthday. And mine. And pretty much anyone I care about so I guess you could say birthday desserts are part of my love language.
He liked it. I thought it was okay.
We both ate it.
Happy Birthday Cos!
The Spicy Spatula 
Whatcha think?