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This Dairy-Free Banana Crumb Cake is a stepped up version of the best banana bread you’ve ever had! It’s full of banana flavor, and the pecan crumb topping puts it over the top.
Banana breads and cakes and desserts of all sorts rank among my personal favorites. You also seem to like them, since they also dominate in my most popular posts on the site (Paleo Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread & Almond Banana Bread are both favorites!!). I love the sweetness and bold flavor that ripe bananas bring to a baked good. It’s seriously hard to make a dry banana bread or cake.
I’m a huge fan of chocolate and banana, but for this banana crumb cake recipe, I resisted the urge to add chocolate. Instead, I kept it pure, with the only adornment being the gorgeous crumbles on top. By skipping the chocolate, we allow the banana flavor to really shine.
How to make a dairy-free banana cake
The banana cake itself is moist and tender with pure banana flavor and not too much sweetness. It’s similar to banana bread, but a little bit lighter and more cakey. I used Silk soy milk for the liquid in this recipe to keep it dairy free. April is National Soyfoods Month, and I loved this soy swap! The soy milk didn’t leave any flavor, and kept the cake super moist and tender. Check out all the different soy swaps you can make here.
In place of butter in the cake and crumble, I used coconut oil! Coconut oil is one of my favorite ingredients and it works perfectly in place of butter here. Best of all, this cake comes together super quickly and easily. You don’t have to fuss around for too long to get a delicious result.
The crumble is always my favorite part of anything. As usual, I totally picked the crumble off the top of this cake. The dairy-free crumble was soft and crispy and crumbly, and I didn’t miss the butter one bit. The coconut oil definitely did the job at bringing the lush richness and mouthed to the crumble topping. I’m always a fan of nuts for texture so I added in chopped pecans. If you’re not into nuts than feel free to skip them.
This cake got me more praise and high fives and full-on raves than I’ve gotten in a while. If you’re a banana fan, this one’s for you! Enjoy :)
More banana favorites…
- Paleo Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
- Vegan Banana Blueberry Pancakes
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Banana Bread
- Vegan Banana Bread
Banana Crumb Cake (Dairy Free)
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup Silk soy milk
For the crumb topping
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 10-inch springform pan or a 9×13” baking pan.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mash the bananas until smooth. Add coconut oil and beat until combined with no lumps, and then add sugar, eggs, soy milk, and vanilla extract.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low until just combined.
- Prepare streusel by combining all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Use your fingers to combine the ingredients and form course crumbles.
- Spread banana batter in the prepared pan. Top with the crumb topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for about 15 minutes. If using a springform pan, remove the sides from the pan and slide the cake onto the rack. If using a 9×13”pan, let cool for at least one hour in the pan.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Soyfoods Association of North America in conjunction with Blog Meets Brand. I received a free sample of the product and was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own.
What a stunning crumb cake! My buddy can’t have dairy so I’ll def be sharing this with him!!
Crumbs are my favoritest thing ever! And in this cake, they look AMAZING. Love it!
OOhhhh, you so had me at Crumb. Then I forced myself to dab the drool off my chin and continue reading… onto bananas, and cake. YUMMMMM! This looks seriously spectacularly delicious. I want to shove my face into the middle of this cake, and claim it as my own, so I won’t have to share! You mentioned you picked the crumb topping off, that is always where I start with a delightful cake like this! #GreatMinds!! Thanks for sharing… pinning, making, still drooling….
I love banana breads, and the thought of having this banana crumb cake in my life is making my mouth water! Ps. I love your gorgeous photos!
I swoon and say ‘oh man’ a lot when I stop by here! : ) This cake – that crumb topping – looks divine!!
Any kind of baked goodie instantly becomes SO much better when it has got banana in it ^.^
This crumb cake also look so tasty- I really want to try making it! :)
This is the purdiest cake I ever did see. Love that it’s dairy-free. Pinned.
This looks awesome! And so pretty, too. I want to faceplant into that crumb topping! ;)
I love the idea of this cake! Especially that it is dairy-free, we are dairy-free so this is definitely getting made!! Yum!
Hi, I made this cake this morning and I knew there was a problem when you said ‘spread’ in the batter. My batter was thin and runny. I triple checked my ingredients and I know I didn’t mis-measure or miss an ingredient. Is there possibly something wrong with the recipe? I am still baking this – 50 minutes in – and of course, the crumb topping sunk into the cake. It may end up in the trash, time will tell. Just wanted you to know this did not work out for me.
Hi Mary Ann, I’m so sorry you had an issue with the cake! The only thing I can think of is the coconut oil – it should have been in a solid form at room temperature when you added it. If it was liquid, the liquid ratio of the cake would have been off which would have made the cake a lot runnier. Could that have been the problem? I hope the cake still tasted okay. Again, I’m sorry you had trouble! Thanks for letting me know.
Hi Rachel, thank you for replying! I would bet that was it. The oil was pretty soft. Do you ever have problems incorporating coconut oil into batter when it is solid?
On a good note, it was delicious. It took a lot longer to cook and I was afraid it would be too sweet because the topping was in the batter, but it was so moist and only a tiny bit sweeter than I would want. But it was gone within 20 minutes so I don’t think there were any complaints! Thanks again.
That’s so great to hear, Mary Ann! I’m glad it ended up turning out fine despite the issue. I usually incorporate the coconut oil in my electric mixer so I don’t usually have a problem with it incorporating into the batter. Thanks for the update!