Vegan Banana Cream Cake

Every year, at the start of August, I’ll ask Jeremy what kind of dessert he wants for his birthday. Every year, he replies with, “Let me think about it.” He and his family aren’t too keen on cake, and he’s not a huge fan of sweets (unless it’s ice cream we’re talking about.)

In years past, he’s requested something simple, and not overly rich, like key lime pie. So, you can imagine my surprise earlier this month when I had barely finished asking the question and he enthusiastically blurted, “A banana cream cake!”

Apparently, he’s been craving this for awhile. And can I just say how happy this response made my cake-loving heart?

The past few months, I’ve been really focusing on cutting down on eggs and dairy, and with that, have had to get experimental when it comes to some of the more intricate baked goods I want to make. Usually, cakes like this call for a ton of butter, milk, eggs, and sometimes even sour cream and cream cheese.

So, I went about searching for ideas over on Pinterest and saw quite a few I thought looked promising. Having gotten a pretty good idea of what I thought would go well together, I chose to go with a modified version of this banana cake recipe, from Cooking Classy™, as a base, in order to create this delicious, vegan dessert!

Vegan Banana Cream Cake

Serves 12-15 | Base of cake adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients

For the Cake

1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar (or lemon juice)
About 1 1/2 cups nut or soy milk (I used almond milk)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups overripe bananas, mashed (about 3-4 medium)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup vegan butter (I used Earth Balance), softened
1/4 cup oil (I used vegetable)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark will work)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Filling

One (1) 5.1 oz package banana cream pudding
1 – 1 1/2 cups nut or soy milk (I used almond milk)

For the Frosting

1 lb. vegan butter (I used Earth Balance baking sticks)
2 teaspoons almond extract
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
6-7 cups powdered sugar
Vegan vanilla wafers (I used Back to Nature brand, which I found at Earth Fare) for crushing and sprinkling

Directions

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 325ºF.
Lightly spray your cake pans (I used three, 6-inch round pans, but any will work if you adjust the bake time accordingly.)
Prepare homemade “buttermilk” by pouring 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup. Top off with nut or soy milk until it reaches the 1 1/2 cup mark. Stir and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until well blended.
In a separate bowl, mash bananas the bananas along with a teaspoon of lemon juice. Set aside for now.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, mix the softened butter, 2 tablespoons of oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
Add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and unsweetened applesauce until well incorporated.
Add in vanilla and mashed bananas.
With the mixer set on low speed, slowly add flour mixture alternating with the homemade buttermilk mixture in a few separate batches, mixing until just combined.
Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans and spread batter into an even layer.
Bake in preheated oven 50-65 minutes (note: bake times will vary depending on size of pans used!) until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

For the Filling

While the cake is baking, prepare one 5.1 oz box of banana cream pudding (Jell-O brand is vegan) by mixing together the pudding mix with 1 cup nut or soy milk. Instant pudding can be made with alternative milks (despite what the box may say) by cutting the amount of milk the recipe calls for in half (or less.) Start with one cup milk, and if you’d like your pudding a bit runnier, add up to 1/2 cup more. Refrigerate until needed.

For the Frosting

Chop butter sticks and place in bowl of stand mixer and beat until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Add in the almond and vanilla extracts.
Add in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency and sweetness.

Final Steps

Once the cake has cooled, it’s time to assemble!

Scoop your frosting into a piping bag (or Ziploc bag with one corner snipped.)
Pipe a small dollop of frosting onto the plate or cake stand, then place first layer of cake on top.
Pipe a one-inch high ring of frosting around the top, outer-edge of the cake layer to create a dam that will hold in the pudding.
Scoop and spread desired amount of pudding on top.
Repeat steps three and four for the next layer.
Use the remaining frosting to top the final layer of cake (and frost the sides, if you’d like.)
Crush a few vanilla wafers and sprinkle on top, and decorate as you like!
Serve immediately or refrigerate until time to serve (and keep leftovers refrigerated, too.) Allow cake to warm to room temperature 10-15 minutes before serving.

While the amount of steps may look a little overwhelming, this truly is a very simple cake to make!

It’s also quite the crowd-pleaser. Because the cake is more of a banana bread consistency, there were plenty of folks who normally don’t opt for a slice of cake at our gatherings (birthday boy included) who downed a whole slice (or more) of this.