If you like homemade banana bread, you will absolutely fall in love with this soft and moist frosted vegan banana cake recipe!
The best vegan banana cake recipe
With a light and fluffy texture and two whole bananas packed inside, it is everything you could ever want in a banana cake.
The rich caramelized banana flavor is out of this world delicious!
There’s just a third cup of sugar in the entire two layer cake. And the recipe can be oil free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, nut free, refined sugar free, low calorie, low fat, and of course vegan.
Also make this Vegan Carrot Cake
Watch the banana cake recipe video above
Vegan banana bread cake ingredients
You will need the following ingredients: banana, water, baking soda, salt, baking powder, pure vanilla extract, flour, vinegar, sweetener, optional vegetable or coconut oil, and optional cinnamon.
The recipe works with spelt flour, white all purpose flour, and some brands of all purpose gluten free flour. We have not tested it with whole wheat flour, pastry flour, coconut flour, or almond flour. A cake made with oat flour tastes great but is denser.
To make a banana spice cake, add a teaspoon of ground ginger, half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Increase the cinnamon to a full tablespoon.
For a chocolate chip peanut butter banana cake, substitute an equal amount of softened peanut butter for the oil. Stir half a cup (or more) of regular size or mini chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients. Top with chocolate frosting.
Feel free to use your favorite all purpose granulated sweetener, such as regular sugar, unrefined coconut sugar or evaporated cane juice. Or use xylitol or granulated erythritol for added sugar free options. I have not tried a liquid sweetener (like pure maple syrup) nor stevia here so cannot vouch for either of those substitutions.
Readers also like these 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls
Vegan hummingbird cake
Traditional hummingbird cake is a sweet banana pineapple cake with cinnamon, pecans, and cream cheese icing. Originally from Jamaica, it is also popular in the southern United States.
To turn this healthy vegan banana cake into a true classic hummingbird cake, you can replace a third cup of the mashed banana in the recipe below with an equal amount of canned finely crushed pineapple.
Drain the crushed pineapple before using, double the cinnamon, and don’t forget to include the crushed pecans!
Top this homemade hummingbird cake with your favorite cream cheese frosting or my simple vegan cream cheese frosting recipe below. It’s also great with caramel frosting.
While the oven is hot, bake this classic Apple Bread
How to make the healthy banana cake
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line two round or square eight inch pans (or one nine by thirteen inch pan) with parchment paper.
Whisk all liquid ingredients together, including the banana. You can even do this the night before (covering and refrigerating after mixing) if you wish to save time.
Stir all remaining ingredients into the liquid mixture until just evenly mixed. For best cake texture and to avoid dense results, it’s important to not overmix baked goods that contain gluten.
Smooth the banana cake batter evenly into the prepared pans. Place the pans next to each other on the preheated oven’s center rack.
Bake the cakes for thirty minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out mostly clean. Let cool, then go around the sides of the pan with a knife before inverting each cake onto a plate.
If you want to avoid cake crumbs getting all over your icing, let the cakes cool before frosting. With baking in general, I often make cakes the day before to ensure they are no longer warm when adding the frosting.
Easy vegan frosting recipe
This banana bread cake tastes wonderful topped with store bought or homemade vegan vanilla frosting, Coconut Butter, or even Coconut Whipped Cream.
While not super healthy, both Duncan Hines and Pillsbury cream cheese frostings are accidentally vegan and work if you are in a hurry.
Or go with the following vegan cream cheese frosting recipe:
Beat room temperature 8 oz cream cheese (such as Tofutti or Trader Joes vegan) or homemade Vegan Cream Cheese with 4 oz butter (such as plant based Melt or Earth Balance) or coconut butter, 2 cups powdered sugar, and 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract.
Add a little nondairy milk of choice as needed. You can also stir in a fourth teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg and cloves if you wish.
This fluffy vegan cream cheese frosting recipe yields about two cups of frosting. I used about half a cup of the dairy free frosting on each of the layers of the vegan banana cake in the photos.
Baking with gram measurements
If you prefer to use grams instead of the cup measurements in the recipe box below, here are the amounts to use:
240 grams each of water and flour, 15 grams of pure vanilla extract, 22 grams of vinegar, 60 grams of oil or peanut butter, 65 grams of sugar, and 240 grams of mashed banana after peeling, or two bananas.
Also remember to add the other ingredients (salt, baking soda, baking powder).
The recipe was adapted from this Vegan Cake and from my Banana Muffins.
- 1 cup mashed banana
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup oil, peanut butter, or additional banana
- 1 1/2 tbsp white or cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups white or spelt flour (or try this Almond Flour Banana Bread)
- 1 tsp each: baking soda, salt, and baking powder
- 1/3 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
- optional 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- optional 1/2 cup crushed walnuts or pecans, or mini chocolate chips
- frosting ideas are included above
-
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease or line two 8-inch pans (or one 9×13) with parchment paper. Whisk liquid ingredients, including banana. Stir all remaining ingredients into the liquid until just evenly mixed. Smooth into the pans. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out mostly clean. Let cool, then go around the sides of the pan with a knife before inverting each cake onto a plate. Vegan frosting ideas are included above.View Nutrition Facts
More Banana Dessert Recipes
