Adaption of the Chocolate Loaf

I hate to be cynical; but it always seems like when you're looking for something you can't find it. But then when you're not, every door is open to you. When I became vegan for a few months, I could hardly find anything that would fill the sweet hole beyond fruit and Alpro Soya yogurt. The choices were very limited and I was hard-pressed to get a good baking recipe - even on sites that specialised in vegan baking.

Recently, I was searching for fitness tips and stumbled across 2 vegan baking recipes on FitSugar. The vegan no-bake brownies that I made (and that are listed under the 'recipe' section) were very nice. They lacked the gooey fudge texture of normal egg crammed, butter filled brownies but nonetheless calm the angry cravings of a sugar-deprived stomach. Essentially, they tasted vegan. 

The bet recipe I tried was sold to me as: "Zucchini bread that tastes like brownies". I had to give it a go. And, it was delightful. Even the raw batter tasted like real brownies. It was so chocolatey and fudge-like that I could instantly tell it would be a winner. When it was baking, it smelled divine and when I took it out I could finally say that I'd made something vegan that tasted 'normal'. It has quite a crumbly texture but it's not at all dry: a lovely treat for a Saturday evening! 

I had initially intended to make these into muffins by the mixture was incredibly sticky and formed a ball which I didn't want to break up. Beside, for the first try, which is always my mistake, I ought to stick to the original recipe. 

However, I did make a slight change. I am not a particular fan of dried cranberries so I substituted half of the required quantity for glacé cherries which are one of my favourite baking ingredients!!

(Vegan) Chocolate and 'Cranberry' Zucchini Loaf 

(Taken from www.fitsugar.com) 

NOTE ON THE RECIPE: This is an American recipe and so measurements are in cups. If you have cup measures then I always find that American recipes are a lot easier because they save you the hassle of measuring ingredients with scales. However, I have written the equivalent measure in grams alongside the initial measure for ease of access. 

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C

1. Grate 225g courgette (zucchini) thinly and place in a bowl. Place to one side
2. In a separate bowl, mix 120g wholemeal flour, 60g cocoa powder (unsweetened), 1 tsp and 1/4 of baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp mixed spice. Place this to one side
3. In a large bowl, Mash 1 ripe banana and stir in 110g caster sugar, 125ml canola oil and 1 tsp vanilla extract
4. Pour the shredded courgette into the above mixture and stir until combined
5. Stir in all of the dry ingredients
6. Add to the bowl 60g of dried cranberries or glace cherries
7. Line a small loaf tin with baking parchment, pour in the batter and bake for 45 minutes (The cake should be soft to the touch and cooked on top. Insert a skewer into the middle to ensure it is fully cooked)

mmmm...appetizing!!!