Tropicake bars (vegan)

Breakfast: Rice and spicy beans with spinach

Lunch: Potato and chickpea curry with naan bread

Dinner: Vegetable noodle soup followed by a Tropicake Bar

In my never-ending search for vegan goodies that will satiate Putin's need for sugar, I've recently branched out into cookies and bars; two arenas that have always taken a back seat to cupcakes with me, if I'm honest. I'm not sure why it is, but I've simply never gone down that road, so the whole concept of bars is the road less travelled on this blog.

These were born due to me being sick of brownies and having half a papaya in the fridge that wouldn't seem to go away no matter how much I ate. I added banana as an egg replacer, and coconut because I liked the tropical foods theme, and because everything is better with coconut.

I never expected these to turn out so fantastically. Not only did I almost make myself sick eating the frosting (which was oddly reminiscent of a roadtrip to Anglesey where I got carried away in an old school sweet shop and ate so much candy I puked...when I was 19) but even after this episode I couldn't keep my dirty mitts off these succulent, moist and fruity bars. I hope you like them as much as I do.

You'll need:
Cake bars

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup papaya, pureed
1 banana, mashed
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup canola oil

Frosting

2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup vegan margarine / soy butter
1/3 cup coconut milk

Method:
Cake bars

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius
Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl, then stir in the coconut
In a separate bowl, mix together the papaya, bana, vanilla essence and canola oil
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined
Pour into an 8x8-inch greased baking tray
Place in the oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is slightly browning

Frosting

Cream together the icing and margarine, then add the coconut milk in to reach desired consistency
Spread evenly over the top of the cooled cake
Place in the fridge to set
When set, cut into 16-20 bars, depending on what size you prefer

These are the kind of cake bars that you eat for breakfast because you know they're there and you can't stop thinking about them. I did that this morning; don't judge me.

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