Today I come here with an amazing recipe for a vegan banana chocolate cake. In fact the original recipe was neither vegan nor it was a banana cake. Funny isn't it, when it starts out as something and ends up totally different nevertheless ending up awesome. Many of the recipes I blog here follow that pattern.
In my previous post I mentioned about the Taste of Home website for a huge collection of baking recipes and how I like to linger around there. Another website I often visit is Weight Watchers. Whether your New Year's resolution is to lose weight or not I think it is always better to look for healthy meal ideas and what better place to look for than Weight Watchers. They have a good collection of dessert, baking recipes too. I have tried a couple of recipes from that site as well with some tweaks here and there and have liked it very much.
The following vegan chocolate banana cake recipe too is my version of the Dark Chocolate Cake recipe in that site. The chocolate cake recipe is egg free already. All I did was to substitute a cup of pureed sauerkraut with a cup of pureed banana and made it vegan by substituting canola oil for the melted butter.
I also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose flour. What is sauerkraut? I too was not aware of such a thing until I saw it mentioned in the cake recipe. I understand that it is fermented cabbage pickle in laymen terms. For detailed information check this sauerkraut recipe, which has detailed instructions with pictures.
As for my vegan chocolate cake with bananas, it came out very well. One of the reason I chose to bake this cake was, I recently purchased a bundt pan and was waiting for a chance to use it. I saw that this chocolate cake recipe too used one and was egg free too. Another reason being, I had very ripe bananas at home which I didn't want to throw it away.
So I decided to use it in this recipe and I'm not regretting it at all. Initially I was thinking that it is going to taste more like a vegan banana cake instead of a vegan banana chocolate cake because of the bananas. Surprisingly, the flavor of bananas in the cake is very mild. The cake was moist, had a very good texture; neither dense nor crumbly, perfect for decorating for birthdays and anniversaries. The only change I would make in that case is to use butter instead of canola oil to give it a rich taste.
Recently I had some overripe bananas at home and wanted to bake cupcakes using it. I already have a plain vegan banana cupcakes recipe here in the blog. I also was in the mood for chocolate flavor. So used this recipe and baked it as vegan banana chocolate cupcakes and it's not a surprise that it turned out great!
If you tried this Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
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Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- 1 and ⅓ cup Granulated Sugar (See My Notes #2)
- ⅔ cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
Wet Ingredients:
- ¼ cup Canola Oil
- 1 and ½ cups Hot Water
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Bananas Mashed or Pureed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Spray a bundt pan with non stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients and keep it aside.
- I pureed 2 small size bananas with little water to measure 1 cup of puree.
- To the flour mixture add the canola oil, hot water and vanilla extract; mix well.
- Now add the pureed bananas and blend thoroughly.
- The cake batter is quite watery. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for approximately from 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The original recipe mentions 55-60 minutes, but mine was done after 45 minutes itself.
- At this stage I did see some cracks on the cake. Move the bundt pan to a cooling rack and let it cool for 10-20 minutes. Place a baking sheet on the pan and slowly invert the pan holding the sides of the sheet to remove the cake from the pan. Then carefully transfer the cake to the wiring rack and let it cool completely before you frost. I didn't frost mine.
My Notes
- The original recipe used all purpose flour but we did not realize that the cake was made with whole wheat pastry flour. The cake had a wonderful texture; moist but not sticky and not gritty. This can very well be a birthday cake; but I would use butter in that case.
- You could also increase the quantity of sugar to 1 and ½ cups if you are not frosting this chocolate banana cake. You could also sprinkle some chocolate chips instead. Since I wanted to make a vegan cake I did not add any. I prefer mild sweetness so the 1 and ⅓ cup was perfect.
- The cake was surely moist but I felt that it did not taste rich. The original recipe uses ½ cup of melted butter for the fat which I replaced with ¼ cup canola oil and some mashed bananas. So I think we could use ¼ cup of melted butter or margarine instead to give that richness. If you want to use entire ½ cup butter, you can reduce the quantity of mashed bananas to ¾th cup.
- Update: I did try this recipe once again with all purpose flour and melted butter and it was definitely rich and good enough to qualify for a birthday cake.
- The next time I try this recipe I'm going to use cooked beet puree instead of mashed bananas. I'm pretty sure that its going to be so good.
Nutrition
Check out these delicious cake recipes as well:
pallavi says
looks so easy and healthy recipe..thanks a lot for posting your eggless cake recipe..I am going to try it right away..cant wait..
Anu says
Madhuram, I tried this recipe for the second time and this time I used butter instead of oil, it does make a difference and I also noticed that the cake was even more moist a day after (I left it outside) I baked the cake. I don't know if it's bcos of the syrup I had added (the cake had absorbed the syrup??) but regardless, I just love this cake, my favorite vegan cake!! And it is so easy to make, THANK YOU!
Here is my post....
http://whatdoimake.blogspot.com/2011/08/banana-chocolate-cupcakes.html
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for trying the recipe Anu. Yes adding butter makes a lot of difference
hadia says
i hv the recipe in my diary now 🙂 yummiest egg free cake i ever tasted!
Madhuram says
Thank you very much Hadia
hadia says
hi
it looks like a really good recipe. However i need to ask you why you prefer to use whole wheat flour? to make it more healthier or because plain flour won't give the desired texture results? Plz let me know coz i only have plain flour and wan't to make a banana chocolate cake...
Madhuram says
You can very well use plain flour which was actually used in the original recipe. I have the habit of substituting whole wheat flour for all purpose flour for health reasons.
hadia says
Thanks for replying. I did make it with plain flour and results were great rather amazing. 🙂 Five stars!
Ambika says
Hey Madhuram,
Can i replace Banana's with any other fruit puree(baby food)
Thanks
Ambika
Madhuram says
You could Ambika.
Sri says
Hi Madhuram,
I made this cake yesterday but it turned out to be sticky rather than moist. I baked it for 55 mins and the tester came out clean.
Any idea what could be the reason?
Sri
Madhuram says
If it was sticky I'm pretty sure that it did not bake completely.
Kata says
Made this cake today, it was very tasty and very moist! I followed the recipe as is but used 3 small bananas, mashed, to make one cup. I also find that salt always brings decadence to chocolate cake so I didn't even measure and just added one pinch of salt. SO GOOD!
Madhuram says
Thank you very much Kata.
SS says
I made this cake today and it was delicious...as you mentioned this is definitely a guiltless indulgence....I plan to make the sinful version for my son's 6th birthday...Thank you so much for the recipe
Madhuram says
You're welcome SS.
eugene says
Hello Madhu
Can i substitute 2 cup wheat flour with 1cup all purpose flour and 1 cup wheat flour?
For the pan can i use for 1 9 inch springform pan? just one.
thank you
Madhuram says
Yes Eugene, you can use part whole wheat flour and part all purpose flour. You would need two 9 inch pans.
Vera says
I tried this cake yesterday with all purpose flour and butter. Plus I added some chocolate cookies on it. Very delicious! Thx for the recipes!
maanasi says
i tried the same with cooked beets and the only diff i made was instead of plain hot water i used the beets water ..but the cake has a chemical after taste ...is it because of the chemical reaction with beets or baking soda was too much or what else?pls advise .
thanks :))
Adri says
This was my first time baking with pureed fruits and without eggs,
it was wonderful, chocolatey and light. I will definitely be doing
a lot more vegan baking!
Madhuram says
Thanks Adri. All the best with vegan baking.
Rebekah says
I love this recipe but I'm trying to keep a food journal and it would be helpful to know the
nutritional information for this recipe. I tried plugging the ingredients into an analyzer but it
came up with a whopping 2879 calories for this cake and I don't think that is correct. Please any
info wold be appreciated.
thanks
Lauren says
Absolutely delicious! I was out of eggs, and needed to bake something as I had friends coming for dinner. It was incredibly moist! 🙂 I used two medium bananas, since I love the flavor. Was out of chocolate chips, but would love it with dark chips in the future. A great, tasty cake, and perfect with a dusting of powdered sugar on top!
Madhuram says
Thanks for trying the recipe Lauren. I too am going to try mixing in some chocolate chips to the batter the next time.
roshni says
Was looking wheat pastry flour vegan cake recipe.
Tried it and my husband loved it. Super recipe
Thanks once again..
Madhuram says
You're welcome Roshni.
Janille says
This looks great! What icing would you suggest to go along with it?
Madhuram says
Drizzling some chocolate ganache and top it off with some chocolate curls and toasted slivered almonds!
anshu says
hey madhuram...
i am a big fan of this website...i tried this cake and it was so delicious...the colour was beautiful..and the texture was smooth...the cake was moist and mind blowing!!!it was a major hit for the b'day..party...keep posting new recipies
thanks!!
anshu
Madhuram says
Thanks for trying the recipe Anshu.
eugene says
Hello Madhuram
Can i substitute oil with something else? I don't use butter either. In general your recipes mention canola
oil and i would like to subtitute oil or butter with something else.
thank you
Madhuram says
Eugene, you could used pureed bananas or unsweetened applesauce instead but the cake will be dense.
Mamata says
Hi Madhuram,
Can you please suggest me the brand of Cocoa-powder that you use for baking.
I tried this cake with TJ's unsweetened cocoa powder, but seems to leave a slightly bitter after-taste. So thinking if Dutch cocoa is a better alternative
Thanks for sharing this recipe
-Mamat
Madhuram says
Mamata, I don't use a particular brand of cocoa powder always. I even buy generic brand sometimes. Did you mix the baking soda thoroughly with the flour or did it have lumps? Or did you use baking powder instead by mistake? Sometimes these could also be the reasons for the bitter after taste. Reg. Dutch cocoa it already has a leavener in it, so using that instead of the regular cocoa powder you would have to change the quantity of the leavener in the recipe and that comes with experience only.