Can I let you in on a little secret? Every week I buy bananas, knowing full well they’ll end up brown and spotty by the end of the week and turned into some kind of delicious baked good (like these wholesome vegan banana cake muffins) because- shock horror- I’m just really not the biggest fan of bananas, straight up.
I love banana things- smoothies, muffins, pancakes, cookies, loafs… I hadn’t tackled a banana cake yet, I don’t really know why, maybe simply because my time had just been taken up with all these other banana recipes, but 5 trials later my friends, we have a perfectly moist banana cake. Well, tiny cakes that is.
Ingredients for these wholesome vegan banana cake muffins
FOR THE CAKE
- Plain flour
- Bicarb powder (aka baking soda)
- Coconut sugar (brown sugar will work well too)
- Over ripe bananas
- Unhulled tahini (sub oil if you prefer)
- Almond milk
- Apple cider vinegar
- Chia seeds
FOR THE FROSTING
- Cashews
- Coconut cream
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla
- Maple syrup
WHY DO YOU NEED OVERRIPE BANANAS?
You may have noticed our vegan banana cake, and a lot of baked banana recipes specifically use overripe bananas, and your wondering why? And how can you tell if a banana is over ripe enough?
-The spottier and blacker the skin, the riper your banana.
-The riper the better when it comes to baking. Using overripe bananas will result in a sweeter flavour, as well as being easier to mash and squish. Don’t let your banana get so ripe that it starts smell, or ooze liquid though, You want a banana that has spotted up, smells sweet and feels a bit squishy.
Why you will love this recipe
- Ready from start to finish in under 40 minutes (if you don’t include soaking time).
- A fun, easy recipe for the kids to join in on.
- Perfect for kids birthday parties (without all those sugary cakes!), or simply a delicious afternoon snack with a cuppa.
- Uses up those overripe bananas sitting on the bench that you were going to throw out.
- Deliciously moist, just like how you remember a banana cake to be (only far healthier!)
- The addition of tahini and cashews adds nice protein boost, as well as including many vitamins and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron.
Make sure you have the RIGHT tahini
We have used tahini to make these wholesome vegan banana cake muffins oil free, but also because we LOVE the combination of banana and tahini- however, not ALL tahini is created equally. Make sure you only use a runny, pourable tahini. If it needs to be scoped or scrapped from the jar IT IS TOO THICK. We also prefer hulled tahini in this recipe- it is lighter in flavour, and generally better for baking (as it isn’t as thick). If you don’t have access to hulled, runny tahini it is better to use the oil option (see recipe).
Some other recipes you might like to try
Some other recipes you might like to try- Vegan lemon slice with coconut frosting
- Vegan lemon yoghurt cake
- Health vegan beetroot muffins with avocado frosting
- Fluffy vanilla sponge with coconut whipped cream.
We hope you like this recipe as much as we do! We love hearing your feedback, so if you try this recipe please leave a review or a comment at the bottom of the page. Have a great day.
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Wholesome vegan banana cake muffins
- Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-23 minutes
- Total Time: 30-35 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Scrumptious vegan banana cake muffins. A reasonably healthy dessert, using only 1/3 cup (with the option of more) sugar, far less then an original version of banana cake, topped with a delicious coconut cashew frosting. Perfect at the end of the day with a hot cuppa.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups (250g) plain flour
- 1 tsp bicab soda (baking soda)
- 1/2 tsp (3g) salt
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup (70-105g) coconut sugar* (see notes)
- 1 cup mashed banana
- 1/4 cup tahini (70g) OR 1/4 cup oil (60g)** (see notes)
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp (200ml) almond milk*** (see notes)
- 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 chia eggs (2 Tbsp chia seeds + 6 Tbsp water * see notes)
- Optional- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the frosting
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours
- 1/2 cup coconut cream
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
MAKE THE CUPCAKES
- Pre heat your oven to 175C (350F). Line a 12 tray muffin tin with patty pans, or use a silicone tray.
- In a large mixing bowl combine milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes. This will create a ‘buttermilk’. After 5 minutes add chia eggs, mashed banana, sugar and tahini/oil. Fold together until uniform.
- Next, sieve in flour, optional cinnamon, bicarb soda and add salt and gently fold together. You want to create an even batter (there should only a couple spots of dry flour), but not an mixed one (as they will become dense). A few lumps are ok- and actually expected- as the mixture contains mashed banana. So- for a light and fluffy muffin DO NOT OVERMIX IT!
- Using a large spoon, evenly divide your mixture into your patty pans and then tap the tray on the bench to remove any air bubbles. Bake 20-23 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to col completely.
MAKE THE FROSTING
- While your cupcakes bake make your frosting. Blend all frosting ingredients in a high-speed blender 1 minute, or until your frosting is completely smooth. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and set in the fridge for 3 plus hours, or until stiff enough to pipe.
- Once your cakes completely cooled, athey are ready to frost. Transfer your set frosting into a pipping bag with a large nozzle attached, and pipe on frosting as desired. You can easily skip this step, and spread on the frosting with a knife. Top with optional choc chips.
SERVING AND STORAGE
- The frosting muffins will need to be kept in an air-tight container in the fridge. They will keep for 4-5 days.
- Unfrosted muffins may be stored in an airtight container ni the pantry (3-5 days) or fridge (5-7 days)
- Unfrosted muffins are freezer friendly.
Notes
To make chia eggs
Combine chia seeds and water in a small bowl and set aside to coagulate for 5 minutes. Use a fork or small whisk to stir a few times. At the end of the 5 minutes you wanna thick, gel-like substance without clumps. Mix as much as you need to create this.
*We’ve made the cake several times with all different amounts of sugar. We prefer a less sweet version, so we use 2/3 cup sugar, but if your prefer a sweeter, more traditional version of banana cake you might want to use more sugar. Brown sugar will work well in this recipe too
**We love the oil free version of the cake, using tahini. If you choose to use oil instead please omit the extra 1 Tbsp of milk (add only 3/4 cup milk in total). We recommend using light olive oil, sunflower seed oil, rapeseed oil or grapeseed oil.
***We use soy milk but you can use any plant based milk you like.
A beautiful balance of flavours and a healthy kick with the chia eggs. In love with this recipe! Thank you so much 🙂
★★★★★
Oh that is so wonderful to hear, thank you Isha. So happy you enjoyed them.
Can you use flax eggs instead of chia?
Definitely. I prefer to grind the flax seeds first though.
I’ve tried many recipes of vegan banana muffins and often with disappointment but the panaceas pantry’s vegan muffin is one of the best recipe I’ve tried so far. I’ve made it twice now and each time I’m amazed at how good it is on so many levels – health wise, texture ( moist and light), sweetness (no cane sugar). In one word I would say it is ‘superdelicious’.
I only had one issue – I couldn’t stop eating them but a bit of self discipline should fix that.??
★★★★★
I’m so happy to read this, Liselle. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and comment, I truly appreciate that- and I also appreciate that it’s not easy to have self restraint here, haha. Have a great day. X jade
A personal success!! I’ve tried so hard to make bread/muffins/cupcakes with all alternative ingredients- and this one is a success!!!! Thank you for helping me kick start my healthy alternative journey!!!!
★★★★★
Ah, I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for your lovely review, and best of luck on your food journey xx
Just made these with my 3yr son and he loved them even before cooking them. Very tasty, easy to make and come out beautifully soft and fluffy too. Very versatile too as we swapped chia egg for flax egg.
Great quick snack for the work week and makes plenty. Will be making this on a regular basis. 🙂
★★★★★
Thank you so much for your beautiful feedback, Krystal.
These were AMAZING! I’ve recently gotten into baking and really enjoyed making (and eating!) these muffins. Will definitely be making these again along with some other recipes from here. 🙂
Additionally, I did not substitute any of the ingredients (I used tahini, not oil) and they were really good. A very simple recipe, would highly recommend.
★★★★★
Im so glad you loved these- I really love them too. We make them at least monthly and always love when we do!
Can I use whole wheat flour the brown one instead and also how about instead of chia eggs normal eggs can be ok.
Hi there. Yes that should be fine with the flour, though for the best result do 50/50 whole-wheat and white flour. You can absolutely use a real egg 🙂