I was looking for some cornmeal recipes for the Corn event and remembered that I had bookmarked one healthy snack cake recipe from my friend Viji's blog.
Her blog has an amazing collection of traditional and innovative recipes. I have made a couple of changes to the original recipe keeping the measurement same. Since her blog is private, I'm reproducing her recipe (along with changes made by me) here with her permission.
To make it vegan friendly, I used brown rice milk instead of dairy milk, canola oil and unsweetened applesauce instead of butter in the original recipe. If you are able to find vegan chocolate chips or use carob chips this snack cake recipe will be 100% vegan. Even after all these changes the cake tasted very good.
Speaking of which, brown rice milk is a new addition in our diet. Earlier I have baked with regular rice milk and almond milk, but this is the first time I have used brown rice milk.
I prefer rice milk to soy milk, especially while baking. I feel that some brands of soy milk leaves an unpleasant odor in baked goods. I have tried a couple of vegan cake recipes with soy milk and felt that the texture was not good too, very sticky. So I usually go with rice milk or almond milk. Now brown rice milk is my favorite too. It tastes good by itself too. My son has it with his cereal. So if a 4-year-old likes it, then it should be definitely good, right?
Recipe
Almost Vegan Cornmeal Snack Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- 1 cup Whole Cornmeal use only fine grind
- 1 cup Quick Cooking oats
- 1 cup Almond Meal
- 1 cup Walnut Meal
- 1 cup Raisins
- 1 cup Pistachios Coarsely Chopped
- ½ cup Dried Cranberries
- ½ cup Flax Seed Meal
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon Mini Chocolate Chips
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Cardamom Powder
Wet Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup Canola Oil
- ⅔ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- 1 and ¼ cups Bananas Mashed/Pureed with little water
- 1 cup Brown Rice Milk
- As Needed Water/Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 175C/350F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan with butter/non stick cooking spray. I lined it with parchment paper and then greased it also with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl combine together all the dry ingredients reserving the 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips.
- Mash 1 large ripe banana with a fork. I chopped the banana and used some of the milk to grind it into a creamy paste. Mix together all the wet ingredients together and stir it well.
- Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine it well without any lumps. I used another ¼ cup of water to get the required consistency.
- Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Smooth it out with a spatula dipped in hot water and top it with the reserved chocolate chips.
- Bake it for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Mine was done in 22 minutes.
- Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely before you can remove the cake from the pan. After it is completely cooled, invert the cake pan to remove the cake and cut it into pieces.
My Notes
- I have included a couple of healthy substitutes to the already healthy snack cake. Instead of 1 cup of regular size butterscotch chips, I have used ½ cup of mini chocolate chips. Instead of 1 cup of melted butter I have used ⅓ cup of oil, ⅔ cup of unsweetened applesauce and increased the quantity of mashed bananas from 1 cup to 1 and ¼ cups.
- I have also used brown rice milk instead of dairy milk. The original recipe used whole wheat flour and regular cornmeal, which I have substituted with whole wheat pastry flour and whole cornmeal.
- Where I live I was able to fine almond meal and walnut meal ready made. If you are not able to find it readily, process nuts of your choice in a food processor until its finely powdered.
- The sweetness was just right for us. Viji had used 1 cup of dates, which I replaced with ½ cup of dried cranberries and also included 1 cup of chopped pistachios. Maybe that's the reason my cake was not very sweet. I think if I had used the dates the cake would have been very sweet.
- With so many ingredients in the cake, we couldn't feel the presence of cardamom. So if you are a spice fan increase the quantity to 1 teaspoon instead of ½ teaspoon.
- I was on a tight schedule on the day I was going to bake this cake. So I prepared the dry ingredients the previous night itself. So it was just mixing in the wet ingredients and baking the next day.
Nutrition
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PK says
Can these snack cakes be frozen?
Madhuram says
I am not sure because I have not done it. Sorry.
Cwp says
Just found your blog....I am not vegan, not even vegetarian, but frequently eat that way. Love.your recipes....but would really love if you were able to do a nutritional and calorie breakdown, too. Keep sharing!
Madhuram says
Thanks. I have started including the nutritional information for the recipes I have posted in the past 2-3 months. Will try to get it done for the old recipes too.
Gnana says
Thanks for sharing this wonderful delight. Can I try with yoghurt instead of apple sauce?
I usually bake cake with sweetened condensed milk, but I'm afraid whether I can use that in this recipe!
Please see my recipe on http://www.vegifood4u.com
Thanks
Madhuram says
You could try yogurt, Gnana. I'll check out your blog.
Mohan says
What is the best substitute for Canola Oil. I am in India. 🙂
And another question -
2/3 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 and 1/4 cups Mashed/Pureed Bananas with little water
I believe these are the EGG substitutes.
Can the Applesause be replaced by Mashed Banana?
Madhuram says
You could use any other flavorless oil. These days I use only coconut oil. You can replace the applesauce with mashed bananas. Check out my recipe for Homemade Applesauce.
Recepti says
Almost Vegan Cornmeal Snack Cake We were very excited.
Yesterday I made ??it and my guests were delighted. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Puja says
Hello Madhurum,
I posted a question meant for this recipe, in the wrong section (Tutti Frutti Cake). Please delete it from there.
any substitute for banana in this recipe?
Thank you.
Madhuram says
You could use some more applesauce itself or any other pureed fruit for that matter. In that case do increase the quantity of baking powder to 1 teaspoon from 3/4 th. You can also try pureed silken tofu instead of banana.
Puja says
Why increase baking powder if using someother pureed fruit instead of pureed bananas?
Madhuram says
I personally feel that when unsweetened applesauce is used in a recipe the end product is very heavy, dense and not light at all. So I usually add about 1/4 teaspoon extra baking powder to make it lighter.
SS says
Thank you so much for sharing a lip smacking recipe.I totally enjoyed baking the cake and my family thinks it is delicious.
Madhuram says
You're welcome SS.
NSG says
Hi Madhu,
I have flaxseeds. Do i have to finely ground them before using?
Thanks.
Madhuram says
Yes NSG. Thank you for the wishes.
NSG says
Do i have to grind the oats too?
Madhuram says
Not necessarily NSG. If I remember right I used it straight up, or else I would have mentioned it.
recettes de perte de poids says
This sound really interesting! YUMMT! Thank for sharing. I can't wait to try these
R says
Hi Madhuram! the pistachios are playing peek a boo..Love the look and texture of this. I just baked this cake...without quick oats and pisctachos...very yummy!! thanks for sharing a wonderful tasty recipe.
You're welcome R.
Viji says
Hi Madhu, lovely presentation. It came our very well. Thanks for trying. Happy new year. Viji
jayasri says
Hi madhu, I think I am going to miss this event too, I am really good at it aren't I, I just saw today that you have announced an event !!, I still have one more day I will try my best!!, but I came here to wish you and your family a very wonderful year ahead, A very happy new year too, Let the God give his best to you!, and of course, this corn meal cake is looking so delicious.., Looking forward to many more healthy eggless recipes, and you are a mentor for my eggless baking
Srivalli says
Looks great madhu..Happy hols!
Nithya Praveen says
Wow cant say there is cornmeal in it ...looks awesome:)
Sunshinemom says
Looks terrific! I can't believe that is cornmeal in there:).
Lisa Cain says
Great recipe! Maybe we can trade posts - I bet my readers would love this!
http://www.snack-girl.com/
🙂
krystyna says
Thank you for your really great job during this year!
This cake looks yummy, healthy and beautiful!
I wish you happy, healthy and successful New 2010 Year!
Siri says
It is just amazing how you can make any (un)healthy recipe, absolutely guilt-free Madhu.. 😆 ..Happy Holidays to you dear and I second meeso, - if I wanna make anything healthy - your blog is the first stop I make.. 😀
Hugs,
Siri
Thank you so much Siri.
meeso says
I can always stop by your blog if I am looking for something delicious AND super healthy 🙂
Oh! thank you so much for that lovely compliment Meeso.