The Vegan Banana Bundt Cake is the most decadent way to use up those ripe bananas! Moist, rich, and so soft!
Move over banana bread, because there’s a new showstopper in town. This vegan banana bundt cake is going to elevate your ripe banana loving self to new levels!
Banana breads are amazing, don’t get us wrong. We know this. In fact, we love banana bread so many we have 7 different vegan banana bread options.
We wanted to take the concept of banana bread and cake and mesh them together for people that love the banana flavor but really want to wow someone!
This vegan banana bundt cake does just that! It really wows someone with that classic, homey banana feeling that will give them all the warm and fuzzy memories!
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WHAT INGREDIENTS DO YOU NEED TO MAKE THE BEST VEGAN BANANA BUNDT CAKE?
Below are notes about the main ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make vegan banana bundt cake:
- Dairy Free Milk – Using milk instead of water adds more flavor into the recipe. We have tried this with both oat and almond and there’s not much of a difference honestly. Use either unsweetened plain or unsweetened vanilla flavored milk, but you don’t want any sweetened milk in this already sweet recipe.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – Since there are no vegan buttermilks on the market, we use acid to mix with the dairy free milk to make a vegan buttermilk. Acid helps tenderize gluten and therefore making a softer cake.
- Flour – The star of the show, we only used all-purpose flour here because we wanted this recipe to be as accessible as possible for everyone.
- Vegan Brown Sugar – Light brown sugar is what we are using. To help with sweetness and moisture. If you want to learn more about why your sugar may not be vegan, you can learn more by clicking on the link.
- Bananas – You want your bananas to be very ripe so that flavor really comes through without the addition of extracts.
- Oil – You want to use a neutral oil – canola or vegetable. Oil helps the moisture in your cake but also helps by slowing down the formation of gluten that yields a very tender and fluffy cake – isn’t that what we all want!
- Applesauce – We use unsweetened applesauce as our egg replacer. It has a neutral flavor and is easy to use.
- Creme of Coconut – This is different than canned coconut milk as it’s thicker and usually sweetened.
- Powdered Sugar – Using powdered sugar not only helps with sweetness, but also helps with making sure that the consistency of our glaze is just how we want it
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
- Dairy Free Milk – Any dairy free milk that you like can be used in this. The important thing is just not using a sweetened milk in this already sweet recipe.
- Acid – You can use white vinegar or lemon juice if that’s all you have
- Flour – Cake flour could be swapped for all or half of the all-purpose flour. Also an all-purpose or 1:1 gluten free flour could be used.
- Vegan Brown Sugar – While we haven’t tried, you could replace this with a coconut sugar or date sugar
- Oil – Melted coconut oil could also be used here and it is normal for it to resolidify when mixing. It will melt back down again when baking. Vegan butter could also be used. Alternatively, you could use applesauce (same amount) of even half oil, half applesauce if you are trying to reduce your oil consumption.
- Applesauce- Flax egg, chia egg, dairy free yogurt, and other purees like sweet potato or pears will also work for this recipe.
- Creme of Coconut – canned coconut milk will also work for this recipe. You only want to use the full fat, thick part on the top of a can
Tips for how to make the best vegan banana bundt cake:
See below tips and tricks for making this vegan banana cake perfect!
- Follow the instructions pretty please. Cake baking is a science, especially when making a dairy free/vegan cake. Every step has a purpose to ensure the perfect vegan cake.
- While we don’t do it in the video or the recipe, if you are not comfortable baking, we highly recommend sifting the ingredients into the bowl. This loosens the ingredients and make sure there are no clumps leading to a more airy cake.
- Make sure to grease your pan. No one likes a cake that can’t come out of the pan. It’s one of the most frustrating things and doing these two things will helps.
- When the cake is cooked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to allow it to cool evenly.
- Do not add the glaze until the cake has cooled for at least 15 minutes. Otherwise the cake will just soak up the glaze.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Absolutely! Did I just make your day? You can swap out the vegan all-purpose flour for Gluten Free Cup for Cup flour. You can also swap out the cake flour with a gluten free version. All the other ingredients that we use in this recipe are naturally gluten free and no swaps are needed.
Besides the flour, that you can use gluten free as recommended above, the only other ingredient is the vegan butter which typically contains soy and coconut.
Just choose a soy free vegan butter like Flora Plant Butter. Any dairy free milk can be used that is safe for your allergens.
The only other consideration is the coconut creme. We’d recommend just making a simple glaze with powdered sugar and non-dairy milk.
The nuts are already optional, so just avoid adding those.
This vegan banana bundt cake is rich while still remaining moist. The right amount of fat (oil) combined with making our own dairy free buttermilk (acid) and adding in leavening agents (baking soda and baking powder) all act together to insure this will not be a dry vegan banana cake.
Also, the importance of minimally processing the ingredients together. We only mix until combined. We do this because the longer you mix flour, the more gluten forms making for a not so great cake.
You can absolutely make this into cupcakes. Simply make the recipe as normal and then instead of greasing cake pans, spray a cupcake pan or liners. Fill each one up 3/4 of the way. You’ll want to reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes.
By adding some acid to your batter, you are creating a vegan cake that is moist and delicious. It helps to break down the tough gluten strands, yielding in the most delicious vegan cake recipe. Don’t skip this step!
Yes. You can make this oil free. Replace the full amount of oil for applesauce. It is very important to know that using applesauce does lead to a more dense cake.
We’ll let you in on a little secret. You can’t even tell the difference. In fact, we’ve served vegan cake to many non-vegans and they had no idea!
Do I have to use a bundt pan?
Fortunately, we have great news! You don’t have too!
Just pour the cake batter into the cake pans of your choice and adjust the time depending on your cake.
What other frosting ideas could I use on this vegan banana cake?
If you don’t want to use the glaze, but instead want an actual frosting, other ideas for how to frosting a this cake are:
- Using Dairy Free Whipped Topping (Homemade “Cool Whip”)
- Vegan Vanilla Frosting
- Vegan Strawberry Frosting
- Vegan Buttercream Frosting
What are other vegan cake recipes I can make?
We love cake and if you are reading this, then we know you do to. Here’s a few of our other options:
- Vegan Brooklyn Blackout Cake
- Vegan Coconut Cake
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake
Get all our vegan cake recipes!
Pin this vegan chocolate cake for later!
Vegan Banana Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon, optional
- 4 ripe bananas
- 3/4 cup neutral oil (or melted vegan butter)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optionals
For the Glaze
- 1 can creme of coconut, (click link to see product we used)
- 2 tbsp non-dairy butter, softened (optional)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a bundt pan. Set aside.In a small bowl, add non-dairy milk and vinegar together. Set aside for 10 minutes. (This makes vegan buttermilk).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon if adding. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mash bananas until no large chunks remain. When ready, add in vegan buttermilk mixture, oil, applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together until well combined.
- Slowly add dry stuff to wet in 4 portions, mixing just until combined after each. Do not overmix.
- Add batter to greased bundt pan and bake for 50-55 mins until toothpick comes out clean.
For the Glaze
- Using a mixer, cream together the coconut creme and butter. Pour in the maple syrup and beat until combined. Add in the powdered sugar and blend once more.
- Pour once cake has cooled for at least 15 minutes.
Nutrition
Let’s see your creations!
Share to Instagram and tag us @makeitdairyfree so we can see and share it!
The recipe turned out great! It was easy to make minor substitutions like swapping milk with chocolate milk.
ohhh chocolate milk! Sounds delicious with it
So GOOD! No one knew this was vegan, which makes it a great recipe to introduce vegan baking to others!
Keep the amazing recipes coming!
Love when that happens!