This vegan banana cake is moist, light and fluffy and loaded with banana flavor. Can be made as a sheet cake or a layer cake. Topped with a delicious lemon frosting.
So banana cake. It’s similar to banana bread, but not the same.
This vegan banana cake with lemon frosting and walnuts, let’s not forget the walnuts, is so delicious I am struggling to find the words to describe it right now.
I absolutely adore banana bread already, which is why I’ve made vegan banana bread, vegan chocolate chip banana bread, vegan chocolate banana bread and vegan banana bread muffins.
But this was my first go at a vegan banana cake. And it came out incredibly well. Just a few small changes from a banana bread recipe to a banana cake recipe and you get light, fluffy cake rather than the slightly denser banana breads.
And this cake can be made as either a sheet cake or a layer cake. So it’s versatile too.
Sheet Cake or Layer Cake?
I was inspired by Sally’s Baking Addiction (a non-vegan blog, but full of great baking tips) to go with a sheet pan version of the cake.
I love a good sheet cake, it’s great to feed a crowd, so if you need to get more slices out of it, it’s a great option. We have a delicious chocolate sheet cake and a vanilla sheet cake too.
However, you can also make this as a two layer 8-inch cake or a two layer 9-inch cake. So I’ll also include instructions for that in the recipe card (and there are some photos of the layer cake further down below).
Ingredient Tips
Ripe bananas. It’s very important that you use ripe bananas when you make this. They must be spotty! Don’t go using green bananas or even yellow bananas that don’t have any spots yet. You want the spotty bananas, this is perfectly ripe which means they are at the perfect sweetness for baking.
Coconut oil. The great thing about this vegan banana cake is I was able to use relatively little oil. Just a quarter cup of coconut oil for the whole recipe. And it was deliciously, perfectly, moist. The moistness comes from those bananas, the coconut oil, some homemade vegan buttermilk and the addition of applesauce to the recipe.
Walnuts. Other than using them on top for decoration, I didn’t use walnuts in the actual recipe. But this would be a good addition if you fancy it. Just chop up some walnuts (about 1 cup should be fine) and add it to the batter right at the end.
How To Make A Vegan Banana Layer Cake
You can easily adapt this recipe to making a layer cake. The recipe stays exactly the same, you just divide the batter between two 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans.
Make sure your cake pans are sprayed with non-stick spray and cut out circles of parchment paper to line the bottoms of the cake pans.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Frosting The Layer Cake
The amount of frosting in the recipe is designed for the sheet cake version of the cake, so as you can see it is enough for the top and middle of a layer cake, but it’s not quite enough for the sides.
If you want to be able to frost the whole cake including the sides, then use our vegan lemon buttercream frosting instead.
Storing and Freezing
Keep your cake covered at room temperature where it will stay good for 2-3 days or store it covered in the fridge for 5 days. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
More Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan White Cake
- Most Amazing Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Coconut Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Banana Cake
Ingredients
For the Vegan Banana Cake:
- 2 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour (344g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ⅔ cup Vegan Buttermilk (160ml) 1 Tbsp lemon juice + soy milk up to the ⅔ cup line
- 3 Large Ripe Bananas (360g) peeled weight
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil (60ml)
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal with 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- 2 Tbsp Applesauce
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Vegan Lemon Frosting:
- 3 ½ cups Powdered Sugar (420g)
- ⅓ cup Vegan Butter (75g)
- 2-3 Tbsp Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
For Decoration:
- Crushed Walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9×13 inch pan with non-stick spray and set aside. For layer cake instructions see notes*.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the white and brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
- Prepare the vegan buttermilk by placing 1 Tbsp of lemon juice into a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the ⅔ (160ml) line. Allow to sit for a minute to curdle.
- Add the bananas, vegan buttermilk and coconut oil to a blender jug and blend briefly until combined. Don't overblend.
- Pour the blended bananas, buttermilk and coconut oil over the dry ingredients and mix in.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal with 3 Tbsp Hot Water and allowing to sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax egg, applesauce and vanilla extract and whisk briefly with a hand whisk to remove any lumps.
- Pour the batter out into the prepared 9×13 pan and spread out evenly.
- Place into the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place the whole sheet pan onto a cooling rack and leave it to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until perfectly thick and smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add the remaining lemon juice a drop at a time until you get the right consistency.
- Frost the cooled cake, and decorate with crushed walnuts.
Video
Notes
- Bananas. If you have a food scale then it will be most accurate to weigh your bananas. If you don’t have a food scale then this works out to around 1 and ½ cups (packed) of mashed banana.
- Make a layer cake. You can make this cake as a two layer 8-inch cake or a two layer 9-inch cake. The recipe stays exactly the same. Just pour it out into two 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans that have been sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper on the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F. The frosting is enough to frost the top and middle but not quite enough to frost the sides. If you want enough to generously frost the whole layer cake including the sides, then you can use our vegan lemon buttercream frosting recipe instead.
- Storing: Keep your cake covered at room temperature where it will stay good for 2-3 days or store it covered in the fridge for 5 days. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
- Freezing: It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
Delicious. Have made and shared three times lately, without frosting. Improving with each bake – first time had no apple, second bake was perfect, third bake (in oven) topped up white sugar balance with brown and white flour balance with wholemeal. Yet to sample.
Non-vegans devour it regardless – naturally! 😘
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Ava! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
My first time baking a cake and turned out so fine. I just found it too sweet for my taste bud so reduced the sugar in half for the next round and found the perfect blend. I’m excited to try to other recipes!
Awesome! Thanks so much for your lovely review Nirmala!