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 is not vegan because it has an egg inside. It’s vegetarian.
It doesn’t have an ‘egg’ inside, it has a flax egg, which is made with flaxseeds and water.
Hi. Is it possible to substitute the soya milk with oat milk to make the vegan buttermilk?
Hi Kym, I’m not sure if the oat milk will curdle but even if it doesn’t you can still go ahead and use it. 🙂
I made this today and absolutely love it! I didn’t have any flax left so made it with chia eggs instead; and no applesauce so added a bit extra banana. I split the mix in 2 and baked for 22-25 mins each and there was enough icing to do the middle layer and top.
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the great comment and review Hannah!
This recipe is amazing… I used 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 coconut flour and it turned out very nice. Thank you so much… I love this site.
So happy it worked out well, thanks so much for sharing Padma!
Can I replace oil with peanut butter?
No, that wouldn’t be a good swap. If you want it to be oil-free you could try swapping the oil for applesauce.
Hello! Do you think I can omit the applesauce?
Hi! My worry is that it may be dry in that case. It would be better to replace it with extra banana (2 Tbsp mashed banana) or 2 Tbsp extra coconut oil or melted vegan butter.
We have a coconut intolerance in the family, any other oil I could sub here? Thank you!
Hi Madison, yes sure you can use a different oil, vegetable oil or canola oil would both work well.
This recipe is the best. I added a cup of dessicated coconut and it is so delicious !
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Rowena!
Hiya! Do you reckon I could add some chopped pineapples and pecans to make this a Hummingbird cake? I imagine it might take a little longer to bake….
Thanks 😀
Hi Penelope, pecans would be totally fine to fine. The chopped pineapple might make the cake too wet, it might be good to reduce the banana slightly, it would be a bit more of an experiment to see how that goes. All the best!
Hello! What will happen if I use 2 cups flour only? Im thinking 2 cups and 3/4 cups is a lot. Sorry! Pls help
The cake will totally flop if you make a big change like that! I recommend you follow the recipe exactly. If you wanted to make a smaller cake, then you could make half the recipe, but that would mean halving ALL the ingredients.
I made this recipe but changed some things. 1 did 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup of brown sugar only and a chia seed egg replacement. Also used defrosted bananas that were frozen in the skin. Made them into cupcake patties (14 yield) and added some choc chips. Baked for 20 mins. Turned out amazing!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Amanda!