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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.
Wow this looks so good. I was just getting ready to make some banana bread when I found this sight. No sugar here just honey , but will mess with ingredients a little..But seriously, have you ever tried shredded coconut in streusel? Yum its great by it self.. just remember to cover loosely with parchment if you don’t want it to brown. Streusel is definately what my banana bread is missing. Kind of like coffeecake. Worth trying with brownies sometime, as this is suppose to be brownie week. Thanks
Can this cake be frozen?
I don’t see why not! I’d double wrap it in plastic wrap and foil to prevent freezer burn :) enjoy!
If I use a 9×13 pan I do 1.5 times the recipe as I find it too thin. I have successfully used butter and dairy milk, I start with 1/2 the amount of milk and add more if needed, usually it is fine. I did need to add more butter to the crumb topping as it was too dry and did not make nice clumps. A nice change from regular banana bread.
Hi Michele, thanks for the feedback!
To make this vegan, I’d have to find a sub for the eggs. Any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Peggy, you could try using an egg replacer here! I’d add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda as well to help with extra lift to compensate for the removal of the eggs. I haven’t tested this way though, so I can’t guarantee the results.
No cinnamon, nutmeg, etc?
Feel free to add a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (or as much as you prefer) if you’d like!
Hi Rachel! I was surprised to find this non-GF recipe on your site but nonetheless I want to make it :) Do you have any thoughts on using cake flour for the cake portion of the recipe?
If you happen to have a GF version of this please let me know. Thanks for all your deliciousness!
Hi Nikki, I had this site for about 4-5 years before going gluten-free so there’s lots of gluten recipes back in the archives that I haven’t taken down because people still use them! A 1:1 baking flour should work decently well for making this recipe gluten-free, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. I should definitely do an experiment to make a GF version of this, though!
Holy Cow! This cake is ridiculously – like mind-blowingly – good. I went ahead and made it with the all purpose flour because I know gluten-free baking is not always successful if youre making flour substitutions for a non GF recipe and BOY was it worth it!
Thanks so much for all the lovely recipes Rachel.
I suggest revisiting this one to see if you can make it GF. Cause I need much more of it in my life! lol … And I also think it would be a smash hit
Idk what I did wrong I even left it in for 15 mins longer but the middle did not set?? It isn’t 100% runny? It’s just a little not set? Is that fine and will I die if I eat it because I put in too much effort to have fricked it up lol
Hi! So sorry to hear that, does your oven run at the correct temp? Did you change anything about the recipe or use a different sized pan? Hopefully it sets as it cools, but in the future, you can cook at a lower temp for longer.
Actually this is the first thing I’ve baked in the new place we live in so possibly the oven is at fault! But I also did switch the coconut oil for vegan butter
The vegan butter shouldn’t be a problem, but I always recommend an oven thermometer! So many ovens are off with their temps which makes things turn out so differently.