It was my husband Paul’s 44th Birthday yesterday & I made him a chocolate birthday cake with banana peanut butter ice cream! This ice cream method was introduced to me through our daughter a few years ago & frankly I think it’s brilliant & much more healthy! We’ve done many different flavors, but this peanut butter version is by far our favorite! The cake is not the healthiest with the sugar in it, but it is g-free & vegan & it’s an occasional treat. Hope you enjoy both!

 

Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients:

6-8 bananas, sliced into coins

wax paper

cookie sheet

3 TBSP natural peanut butter

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1/4 cup almond milk

Directions:

1. Slice bananas into coins after peeling. Place wax paper on top of cookie sheet & spread out coins flat on the wax paper on cookie sheet. Place in freezer for at least an hour until completely frozen.
2. After frozen, place the frozen banana coins in a blender along with all of the last 3 ingredients & blend on high until whipped into a smooth ice cream!! You may need to stop the blender every 30-60 seconds to help move it around toward the blades with a rubber or plastic spatula, a few times, until it’s smoothed out. Voila!

It’s so amazing how much this tastes like ice cream & is so super creamy!!  You could also put in a TBSP of cocoa powder into the blender with the peanut butter to make a chocolate/peanut butter version! I’d love to hear if you enjoyed this & if you’ve made another flavor combo! Just always use those frozen banana coins as your base.

 

Vegan Chocolate Birthday Cake

Cake Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups g-free all purpose flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

2 cups organic sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 2/3 almond milk

2/3 cups canola oil (or you can use coconut oil, melted)

2 TBSP Bragg’s apple cider vinegar

1 TBSP vanilla extract

a little shortening for greasing cake pans

parchment paper

Frosting Ingredients:

1 stick Earth Balance butter stick

1/2 cup Spectrum Organic all natural shortening

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 TBSP soy milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease two 8″ cake pans with more of the shortening, then cut out 2 circles of parchment paper to fit on bottom of cake pans. (I trace bottoms of pans with a pencil, while on top of the parchment, cut out & place in bottoms of pans).
3. In a Large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients on the list from the flour to the salt. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients on the rest of the cake ingredients list, except for the shortening to grease the pans.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl all at once & stir with a spoon until all melded together & the big lumps gone. DO NOT OVER MIX IT!
6. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared cake pans & place in 350°F oven.
7. Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool at least 10 minutes before removing from pans. Then remove from pans & let them cool completely.

Frosting:

While cake is baking, make the frosting.

1. Whip up the butter & shortening in a large bowl until creamy with a hand mixer.
2. Add the other ingredients & blend together.
3. It should make a nice, creamy, thick frosting.

Set aside. You can refrigerate if you want while waiting, but take out again a little before frosting the cake so it softens & warms up a bit & can easily be spread.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!  🙂