Healthy Vegan Cranberry Cake/Bread Whole Wheat No-Oil, No Sugar, WFPB
This is a yummy, healthy and satisfying plant-based vegan dessert. Or maybe you would eat it as an after school snack for kids, bedtime snack for yourself, or mid-day treat. Whatever you prefer, so many options!
Looking for healthy vegan recipe ideas to make with whole wheat flour and cranberries? Try this recipe.
To make a healthy moist rectangle cranberry cake, from which you can cut cranberry squares. This recipe is whole-foods plant-based, uses dried coconut soaked in water instead of oil, and uses frozen bananas instead of sugar.
These substitutions create a healthier delivery package – a small amount of whole coconut – complete with fiber and other phytonutrients, plus a nice mild flavour (if you even notice it). Instead of a traditional cake recipe that uses oil.
Other healthy tasty vegan dessert or snack recipes to try (these use apples):
Buy Cranberries in Season and Freeze them for Healthy Cranberry Breads and Cranberry cake.
I buy bags and bags of fresh cranberries from Costco before thanksgiving, rinse and freeze them, so I can bake with cranberries all year. I also enjoy putting these frozen cranberries on my hot oatmeal in the morning.
Cranberries are tart, and this cake has no sugar, so it is more like a bread, but still tastes nice.
When baking it, you can taste the wet ingredients mixture, to be sure you like the flavour, and sweetness.
My kids liked this cranberry cake, so things don’t always have to be sweet to be a success. The cranberries are juicy and tasty, and the spices add complex flavour.
Whole Wheat Flour Cakes and Baking
We are loving my baking with whole wheat, it is such a satisfying snack. They are a bit ugly, but so nice to eat.
Maybe it’s the extra fiber, or nutrients, but we feel so good after eating this cake.
Whole wheat does make the cake more dense, and lumpy looking on the top, but also more filling, without that blood sugar spike and fall you get from white flour.
This cake is quite low calorie and is full of whole foods that will feed your microbiome, and have been shown to prevent cancer. Have some cake and be slim too!
Whole Foods Compared to Traditional Desserts = Better Gut Health
A quick mention here about a book that made it so I can eat this cake happily.
The advice in this book about gradually exercising your gut, by eating a little bit more of a diverse range of plants, especially whole grains like whole wheat is just spot on. Rather than avoiding them.
I’ve realized my IBS goes away when I eat a little bit of the food that is bothering me for a few days in a row.
This book explains why, based on your microbiome changing to be able to digest what you eat.
Eliminating foods is actually the opposite of what we should do.
Following the advice in this book, has really made my IBS go away
It’s been an amazing read for me.
My digestive system has never felt better.
Now I can eat wheat and lovely cakes.
If you ever struggle with bloating or reactions to some plant foods (like wheat) or if you know someone who does, this book may solve that problem for you and them!
So I thought I would share. 🙂
Healthy Vegan Whole Wheat Cranberry Bread / Cake - Oil Free, Sugar Free, wfpb
Equipment
- 9" x 13" rectangle baking dish.
- Wax paper or parchment paper (optional, but recommended).
Instructions and Ingredients
First, Mix the Following Dry Ingredients in a Large Bowl
- 3 cups whole wheat flour Or half whole wheat and white.
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda Ensure is well mixed throughout the dry ingredients.
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp cinnamon try swapping 1 tsp of the cinnamon for ground cloves.
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
Second, food processor the following on high, until smooth, to aerate
- 1/3 cup dried coconut Soaked in water: microwave for 30 seconds with 1/3 cup water, and let sit a few minutes, then add to the food processor.
- 2 tbsp ground flax Whisked with 6 tbsp of water, then let sit for a few minutes, to make 4 flax "eggs"
- 1 1/2 cup banana Use ripe frozen bananas instead of sugar. Makes more of a bread, than a cake (less sweet).
- 1 1/2 cups apples Chopped, peel on is ok. These will be turned to liquid. Or use applesauce.
- 1/4 cup maple syrup optional
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Third, add and process nuts first to make into pieces, and then add and process cranberries on medium speed to cut most in half.
- 1 1/2 cups pecans Or walnuts.
- 4 cups cranberries fresh or frozen
Fouth, pour and mix wet ingredients into the dry
Fifth, spoon batter into cake pan
Sixth, bake at 350 for 40 - 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out very clean
More Detailed Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C)
- Place wax or parchment paper on bottom of 9x13 glass cake pan, to avoid problems getting the cake out later.
Mix Dry Ingredients Together in Large Bowl
- In a large bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt.
Mix at High Speed in Food Processor until Smooth - for about a minute to aerate / add bubbles to the cake.
- Frozen banana (slightly thawed, so you don't damage the food processor)
- Apples (or applesauce)
- Maple syrup
- Vanilla
- Soaked coconut
- Soaked flaxmeal / ground flax
Add Nuts to the Food Processor and Chop on Medium, until nuts are half their previous size.
- Nuts
Add Cranberries to the Food Processor, Chop on Medium until many are halved, some should still be whole.
- Cranberries, chopping the cranberries a bit will help them release moisture when cooking. It's fun when eating to get some whole tart cranberries too.
Mix Wet into Dry
- Stir with a spatula in the large bowl, to get the wet and dry well mixed. The dough will be very thick, but don't worry, because the cranberries will create juices when they bake.
Spoon vegan batter evenly into a rectangular cake pan
- To make the cake easier to get out later, first line the pan with parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil and then spray lightly with oil (optional, makes paper easier to peel off).
- Lightly smooth the batter mostly flat with your spoon. It should be thick, not runny, but all the flour should be mixed in.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven. Check center is cooked, by waiting until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven, cool in the dish for at least 10 minutes. Pop the cake out, upside down, peel the paper off, and continue cooling on a wire rack or towel.
- Turn right side up, you can put the cake back in the baking dish. We put a towel over it and keep it on the counter for snacking for about a week.
Notes
Nutrition
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