Unlike some people who squirm at the sight of overripe bananas I love it because I can try out new banana recipes. I was going through the list of recipes I already have and found that banana cake and cupcake was missing, if I don't include the hummingbird cupcake which is a blend of lot of flavors including banana, coconut and pineapple and the vegan chocolate banana cupcake.
Since I didn't have enough bananas to make a layered cake I thought I should bake banana cupcakes. I drew inspiration from this recipe and made changes to bake vegan banana cupcakes.
The cupcakes turned out awesome is the least I can say because it had an unbelievable texture, the sweetness was perfect and the banana flavor was mellow. I can't wait to try this recipe as a layered cake and frost it.
Recipe
Vegan Banana Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
Part 1:
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 1 and ½ cups white sugar
- 1 cup mashed banana
- ½ cup silken tofu (pureed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Part 2:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Part 3:
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Substitutions:
- avocado oil - any other oil or melted butter
- almond milk - any other milk or just buttermilk minus the vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 375F/190C for 15 minutes. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease it with non-stick cooking spray. Stir together the almond milk and vinegar; set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the ingredients listed in Part 1. Mix well. You can use an electric beater too.
- In another medium size bowl combine together the Part 2 ingredients.
- Add the flour mix and curdled almond milk into the sugar mixture alternately, mixing well after each addition.
- Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted int he center of the cupcake comes out clean. Mine was done in 19 minutes. Leave the pan on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan to cool completely before frosting.
My Notes
- I would normally suggest to use whole wheat pastry flour for the whole or at least part of the recipe, which I didn't mention here because the cupcake turned out damn good and I want you guys to try it as it is first and then do the experimenting. Same with silken tofu too. Unsweetened applesauce or some more bananas, yogurt are usually good substitutes but I want the recipe to be tried as it is.
- I used this vegan cream cheese frosting for the cupcake. I just did a very small batch of the frosting for photo sake and the rest was devoured without it because it didn't need any of those frills.
- I also baked 12 regular size cupcakes and the rest I baked as mini cupcakes. Looking at the batter I think I would have got about 16 cupcakes.
Aditi says
Hi Madhuram I'm planning to get this recipe tomo. Wanted to know what exactly is pureed silken Tofu? Can you help please.
Madhuram says
It is nothing but silken tofu which is blended to form a smooth and creamy mixture. You have to buy silken tofu and then blend it in a mixer.
Megan Price says
what can I substitute the sugar with? I cant have any type of sugar.
Madhuram says
I guess in that case Xylitol or Stevia are the options.
Jennilee says
Do you think I could sub walnut oil for the avocado? I have that on hand. And did you ever try doing less milk to make the cupcakes less sticky?
Madhuram says
Yes you can use any oil. Maybe that will work Jennilee. Will try it the next time.
Vilma says
I would like to know a substitute for tofu. The cupcakes are for my grandson, he is only 1 year old and we don't know, if he has other allergies. He is allergic to eggs and other green vegetables. Can you give a substitute for the tofu?
Madhuram says
I think you can try yogurt instead of tofu or another 1/2 cup of mashed banana itself.
Rupa Lakshminarayan says
Do u think if we replace the banana with Strawberry puree ... we can convert this to a Strawberry cupcake recipe ???
Berry season is coming up and I was thinking of Strawberry cupcakes .... I am so much amazed at what silken tofu can do to baked goods .. wow !
Thanks
Madhuram says
I'm guess you can. But I do have a strawberry cupcake already in the blog using vinegar as an egg substitute.
Rupa Lakshminarayan says
Hi Madhuram,
Can wait to try this.
Shall share my experience on this with you soon.
I am a big fan of your 3 recipes all of which use silken tofu ....the bluberry cake, strawberry cake and the chocolate cake
All of them are amazing.
Do you already have or can you come up with a recipe using silken tofu + or - yogurt to make plain vanilla cupcakes
Silken tofu is total magic
And I would like a go to recipe for plain vanilla cupcakes using silken tofu
Would you pleaseee have time for my request ????
Thank you
Love
- Rupa
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for trying the recipes Rupa. I will come with such a recipe soon. But I'm sure you will love this one.
Rupa Lakshminarayan says
Hi Madhuram,
I made these today and they were sooooooo very good !
Total spongy
Thanks for such a super recipe.
One thing though .... the tops were a little sticky ...wonder why.... my bake time was exact 19 mins just like yours... and they were perfectly baked except for the sticky top part.
Any tips on that ?
Did yours also have the same issue ?
Thanks
- Rupa
Madhuram says
Thanks Rupa for trying this recipe and so many other recipes. Now that you mention about the stickiness, I remember that mine were lightly sticky too the next day. But my observation is whenever a recipe calls for simply mixing sugar and oil instead of creaming butter and sugar together the cupcakes/cake turns out little sticky. It's either that or there is extra liquid in the recipe or a combination of both. Maybe we could try the recipe with 1/4 cup of milk instead of 1/2.