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.
Absolutely delicious and stays moist even on the second day! I didn’t have apple sauce so substituted two tablespoons of vegan plain yogurt. Simple to make and my family loved it.
this was a great cake, made it for my friend who is dairy sensitive and she loved it. super tasty and moisture. did use eggs instead of the flax egg and did the 2 layer cake style. Thanks for the grams measurement this made it easier.
This was great, my family loved it! I made it as a sheet cake yesterday but I want to make it as a layer cake, too. Would it be better to divide the batter in two to bake the two layers separately, or bake the batter in one piece and then cut it in half horizontally?
Hi Alycia, definitely better to bake it as two layers, otherwise it will take forever to cook and likely won’t cook evenly.
Hi there from Holland. It I could give this cake a 5+ I would. Super easy recipe and clear instructions turned out perfectly. My daughter said it is yummy! Best regards.
So happy to hear that! Thanks Julia!
I’ve been looking for a new go to banana bread recipe since I stopped baking with eggs and now I’ve found it. A lot of recipes are very dense but I prefer a lighter texture. I made this as a sheet cake and it rose beautifully even though I did have applesauce. I would say the texture is between a bread and a cake, and the flavour is just right, not over sweet. The lemon icing (Londoner here!) lifts it perfectly and even my son, who doesn’t like banana cake, enjoyed it! Thank you for the metric measurements too, much appreciated not having to convert!
Awesome! Thanks so much Yvette!
Delicious cake- thank you!
Baked in a 10 inch springform with DIY cake strips at 325 for 50 minutes.
Light glaze with backyard lemons ????
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Deborah!
We made this with our home grown, rather sour bananas, and it still turned out delicious! We also subbed pureed cooked pumpkin for the applesauce. Everyone loved it. As we have 80 bananas waiting for us on the table, I am making another batch today!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Megan!
Can I use sunflower oil instead of coconut oil, Adel
Sure! That will work fine. 🙂
Delish! I added vegan vanilla yogurt to the icing and it tastes amazing, good recipe!
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing!
Wow, I’m so excited because is the very first time I’m completely happy with a banana cake (or “queque de plátano”, like we say here in Chile) I really loved the texture, soft and fluffy. I really hate the ones that are too dense or moist, but this recipe is truly amazing.
thx <3
Awesome! Thanks Ignacia!
Hi! is it okay to omit flax egg/apple sauce? Lately I find it hard to look for this ingredient. Thank you!
Hi! Yes you can omit these and replace with an extra 5 Tbsp of mashed banana. All the best! 🙂
Hi
Jus wondering if you can use something else besides the flax seed? I can never find it ground. I can get hemp or chia would I be able to use either of those?
Thank you
Hi Susan, you can use chia seeds and make a chia egg the exact same way as a flax egg. Otherwise in this recipe you could replace the flax egg with 3 extra tablespoons of applesauce or mashed banana. All the best! 🙂
Hi there, ground flax is easy to make if you have a blender, just ensure dry and place the seeds in and blend into a coarse or fine powder. This doesn’t seem to work in a food processor though. I do this in bulk with all the flaxseed (linseed) I buy and store it in a container ready for use. Good luck and happy baking!
I made this cake for my son’s birthday. He is vegan, but my husband and I are not. We absolutely loved it! It was so delicious and beautiful! My husband said “ this is now my favorite cake! The combination of lemon frosting and banana cake was so good. I didn’t have applesauce but my bananas were very large so guess I didn’t need the applesauce cuz it was moist and perfect. Thank you
So glad it was a success! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi! I’m hoping to make this cake today but since I don’t want to go to the grocery store, is there a substitute for vegan buttermilk? Thanks!
Hi Sara, the vegan buttermilk is homemade, so it’s just a mix of lemon juice with soy milk. If you don’t have lemon juice on hand, you can also make it with vinegar. Hope that helps!
Wonderful! I used self raising flour in place of plain flour and baking powder (because it was 10pm and the shops had shut) and added an extra banana in place of applesauce. Still worked out delicious and moist. Thanks so much!
Wonderful! Thanks Emma! 🙂
Made this cake using Gluten Free flour and it was delicious. Light and moist. Top recipe! thank you.
So glad to hear that Sylvia! Thanks so much for the wonderful review. 🙂