Topped with a sweet banana glaze, this Plant-Based Banana Cake is a decadent version of banana bread. It makes a wonderful fruity dessert.

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What is banana cake?

Before I made this cake, I had no idea what banana cake was. I honestly thought that it was the exact same thing as banana bread. Please tell me that I'm not the only one.

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Banana Cake v. Banana Bread

I mean, banana bread is bananas, flour, sweetener, eggs, and a fat source. Banana cake is the same thing: bananas, flour sweetener... blah blah blah. I don't get it! They are seriously the exact same.

But actually they aren't! Banana bread is thick, dense, and generally considered healthy. But banana cake is light, fluffy, and moist. And while this recipe is still healthy, it's definitely not a low-calorie food.

That's okay though! Eating a plant-based diet doesn't mean you need to eat low-calorie all the time. It's more about fueling your body with nutritious ingredients and eating a full nutrient profile. You can have your cake and eat it too! (Sorry, I had to.)

Anyway, I finally learned the difference between banana cake and banana bread when a friend mentioned that he wanted some of his mom's banana cake. I immediately asked for the recipe to see if I could make a healthy, plant-based version. And here we are: Plant-Based Banana Cake!

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Banana Cake Ingredients

This cake IS still made with whole foods. Each ingredient is healthy and good for you. My favorite kind of recipe!

• Ground Flaxseed: We'll be making some flax eggs. Flax eggs serve the same purpose as regular eggs: binding the cake together.
• Bananas: Duh there's bananas. It's a banana cake, after all. The key here is to make sure the bananas are super duper ripe. Like I'm-questioning-if-I-should-still-keep-these ripe. Very. Very. Ripe.
• Lemon Juice: Mixing the bananas with a bit of lemon juice helps them from going bad once they're in the cake. The acid slows the ripening process. It's a neat trick!
• Almond Butter: Usually I like to keep my baked goods lower in fat, but not this recipe. We've got a whole 3/4 cup of almond butter. The fat from the almonds makes the cake so fluffy and moist!
• Date Sugar: For extra sweetness. My banana bread recipes don't typically use this much extra sweetener, but since this is a cake, I wanted it to really taste sweet.
• Vanilla Extract: For a hint of vanilla.
• Rolled Oats: We're using oats as the flour in this recipe. Blitz them in the food processor and they'll be ready to go. You could use store-bought oat flour, but this will make the cake more dense.
• Baking Soda: For an incredible rise.
• Salt: To balance the sweetness.

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How to Make Plant-Based Banana Cake

Start by making the flax eggs. Set them in the fridge while you mix up the rest of the wet ingredients.

Mash the bananas and stir in the lemon juice.

In a separate bowl, mix the almond butter and date sugar. Stir in the flax eggs and vanilla.

Then add the almond butter date sugar mixture to the bananas.

Next process the oats to form a flour. Stir the flour, baking soda, and salt into the banana mixture.

Pour the batter into a parchment-lined pan and bake. I used a smaller cake pan to ensure my cake fit well on my plates. (Gotta get those pictures!) But this recipe will work fine in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan, it just won't be as tall as my cake is in the pictures.

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Banana Cake Frosting

It's not a cake if it doesn't have frosting, right? Well... this is more of a glaze. It's pretty hard to make 'real' frosting if you're not using butter, cream cheese, or powdered sugar.

This glaze is simple, yet delicious. It's just banana, date syrup, and vanilla.

Mash the banana, then stir in the date syrup and vanilla. It makes a gooey icing that you can drizzle on top of the cake. And it adds to the amazing banana flavor.

I highly, highly recommend making this glaze!

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How long does Banana Cake keep?

If you want to make this cake ahead of time, bake the cake but wait to add the glaze. Since the glaze is made with raw bananas, it will not last more than a day or two.

That being said, the cake itself will last in an airtight container for up to a week. If you want to eat it over multiple days, pour the glaze onto individual slices instead of the whole cake.

I hope you enjoy!

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Recipe Prayer

Lord, thank you for friendship and sharing. One of the many reasons you created cooking was to bring people together. Please continue to form bonds through food. Amen.

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Related Recipes

Check out my banana bread recipes: Plant-Based Banana Bread and Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Bread.

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Tried this recipe?

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