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.
This looks just fab, can’t wait to make. Can I ask if it would be OK to freeze? I would have thought so but just wanted to check ????. Thanks
Hi Jo, yes it’s freezer friendly! All the best! 🙂
Woo hoo, that’s great thanks, just about to bake 🙂
Hello! I love your recipes! Was wondering if you’ve ever tried this with Canola Oil or if coconut oil is the better option. Thank you!
Canola oil is also fine to use! 🙂
Hi
What sort of applesauce do you use? Is is 100% apples or will shop bought work the same?
I usually use store-bought unsweetened applesauce that comes in a jar. 🙂
OMG I love this recipe and so does the rest of my family. We even ended up fighting over the last piece haha. I added some brazil and pecan nuts and it was stunning. Thank you for the vegan buttermilk tip too 🙂
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed it Sam!
can Bob”s egg replacer work instead of flax meal?
Yes it should do. Alternatively you can use extra applesauce to replace the flax egg (so 5 Tbsp applesauce in total).
I made this for my son’s 7th birthday. he is gluten-free, so I substituted “Namaste” brand all-purpose gluten-free flour for the regular flour. I used ground chia seeds instead of ground flax for the egg substitute. I baked in two 9″ round pans and assembled as a layer cake with chocolate frosting. My son said it was the best cake ever. Gluten-free and vegan is pretty difficult to get a good result, so I was really glad it turned out well! Thank you for a solid recipe to use as the base of my modifications!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the great review Anne!
Hi Alison, Thanks for this recipe, best I’ve found in my search on the internet :))
Quick question: Would you recommend a couple of subs for the Flour and Sugars? I’m thinking of making this and would like to really rev it to be super healthy!
For eg. Would coconut flour, almond flour, or gluten-free flour work as well? And if used, would the quantity need to change perhaps?
And for the sugars, how about Coconut Palm Sugar, or Monk Fruit (Erythritol)? (I guess Stevia may not work well here as a different texture and taste).
Am guessing there’d unlikely be a sub for the confectioners sugar to give the same taste and consistency of icing 🙂
Thanks again this looks amazing!
Hi there! the best option is a gluten-free flour blend that is meant to replace regular flour. Coconut flour and almond flour on their own tend to not have good results in baking at all unless the recipe has been designed with that in mind. But a gluten-free all purpose blend should work well, and it would be in the same quantity as the regular flour. Coconut sugar would be the best option to replace the regular sugar. You could always serve it with a vegan whipped cream rather than frosting as well if you prefer. All the best! 🙂
Hey, Thanks Alison! OK so I made this even before checking back for your comment – wow you’re quick off the mark 🙂
I found making it with almond flour, normal and dark coconut sugar, and all the other ingredients you mention worked out fine! No difficulty with the almond flour TBH – the only rookie error I made is that the cake tin I used was too high, so next time I have ordered in the one you recommend, as it took *much* longer to cook, and the bottom fell out of it eventually. Lol @ me :)))
I used an actual egg and so this was vegetarian rather than vegan, Only other thing I would do differently next time around is I used Ghee for the icing – I’d use regular butter I feel as the Ghee has a slightly weird “vibe” in icing sugar!
Overall, GREAT recipe, really enjoying this as a daily treat.
So glad it worked out well!
I’m totally not a baker, but this was easy to bake and totally got it right the first time! So happy about this yummy cake! I can’t even tell it’s vegan! So moist and yum!
Wonderful! Thanks Michelle!
Hey just wondering does it matter if I use liquid coconut oil ? I don’t have the slightly hard one in a jar and also will this be ok with vegan cream cheese frosting layer cake ? Also when blending you just mean with a hand whisk ? Thanks !!
Any coconut oil will work fine here. And yes you can make it as a layer cake and the frosting is up to you. We did blend the bananas in a proper blender but if you don’t have one you can mash them and use a hand whisk sure. It might help to watch the video so you have a visual idea of the process.
Hi Alison,
Your recipe is marvellous, thank you.
Would you reply back with oven instructions for using this recipe as cupcakes please?
Warm regards
Hi Casablanca, so glad you like the recipe! We do have a recipe for banana cupcakes!
This cake looks yummy and I would love to have a go at it, do you think a different type of plant based milk would work?
Hi Tracy, you can make vegan buttermilk with either soy milk or almond milk. 🙂
Would it work to halve the ingredients for a smaller cake in an 8×8 inch pan?
Yes I think so!
Incredibly moist cake????
Thanks Charlotte!
Made this tonight to use up some squishy bananas, very good! And still tasty even though I forgot to put my flax egg in (found it still waiting on the side once the cake was in the oven ????… that’ll teach me to try and multitask!) The texture was a little ‘chewier’ than normal but still risen and fluffy.
So glad it worked out! Thanks for sharing Sarah!
Really tasty cake. Luckily I had all the ingredients to hand. Needed longer in the oven than stated but I used a square tray bake dish. I only made half the frosting quantity which was plenty for the top. Family and non vegan visitors loved this cake.
Delicious cake! Just made it. What’s the rest way to store it and how long would it keep well for? Thanks!
Keep it covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.