Sesame sweetness

My friend Ben is no liar.

He told me one of the best things he’s eaten lately is the sesame banana cake from Birdbath. While he was not charmed by the price ($4 for a takeaway muffin?), he raved about the heft (about the diameter and weight of three stacked hockey pucks) and yumminess (not his word).

And rightfully so. Birdbath is proving that vegan baked goods can be delicious. And that ingredients usually reserved for savory dishes are just as at home in sweets.

The sesame seeds in the cake (it’s called a cake but shaped like a muffin) give it a nice smoky flavor and textured mouthfuls. And yet there’s sweetness from agave. And while some vegan baked goods suffer from funky consistencies — they’re either so moist, they’re wet (eww), or so crumbly that they fall apart before reaching your mouth — this one gets it right. It holds together just as if loads of butter were binding the ingredients.

Even better than the sesame-rich insides are the big hunks of bananas that give it a carmelized chewiness. They’re so good that, in a weird way, it’s almost like eating chocolate.

Thanks, Bennie.