Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread with Coconut

How can you achieve excellent vegan cakes?

My most important tip in vegan baking is that the most successful vegan cakes are achieved when the recipes are built from the ground up.

Recently I made a big mistake with one of my cake orders and agreed to make a vegan cake for a client that was based on one of my non-vegan recipes. Since I wanted the cake to resemble my original recipe as closely as possible I made compromises in the ingredients. For example, when making the buttercream I just swapped out regular butter for vegan butter. Have you seen the ingredients on the back of vegan butter? Palm oil is such a problematic ingredient (not sure why then google it) and something I wouldn’t normally bring into my kitchen at all.

I was totally unhappy with the choices I was making to produce this cake and when I sat back and analysed the situation I realised I was making the same mistakes a ton of people make when they first start free-from baking. I was thinking that with a just a few ingredients swaps I could turn a tried and true recipe into a successful free-from recipe. But it doesn’t always work like that. In making like-for-like swaps you will often be making compromises, in flavour, in texture and in this case, environmental. This is something I learnt the hard way when first baking gluten-free and now I’m learning it all over again with vegan baking.

This Vegan Chocolate Coconut Banana Bread is marvellous as it uses fantastic techniques and ingredients that will satisfy anyone who knows good cake. No vegan butter or egg replacement here, just honest natural ingredients for delicious flavour and texture.

How to substitute eggs in vegan cakes

Eggs provide many roles within the bake of your cake but the two most important are:

1.The Bind

Eggs bind you cake together so it doesn't fall apart. My favourite way to substitute eggs in a cake is by using chia or flax eggs for the bind. This is basically chia or flaxseeds which have been mixed with water to create a sticky gel which you then just mix into the batter. 

2.The Rise 

Eggs also help lift the cake. For the cake to rise here I have opted for using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar which react with the coconut milk to lift the cake up.

Full list of ingredients

Bananas. The riper the bananas the easier they will be to mix into the other ingredients. The cake will also be a little sweeter. They don't need to be overripe though as long as they are not green.

Desiccated coconut (unsweetened finely shredded dried coconut). You can find it in the baking aisle. It adds such a lovely texture and flavour to this Chocolate Banana Bread.

Cocoa powder. Choose a high quality organic brand if possible. This recipe was tested with Dutch-processed cocoa powder which means it has been treated with an alkalizing agent to neutralize its acidity. This is the more common type in the UK – but do check the labels to make sure it is safe for your allergies.

White Rice Flour. This is an economical flour and is great in a chocolate cake due to its neutral taste.

Oat Flour. A lovely fluffy flour with a toasty taste that goes so well with chocolate. If you are intolerant to oat flour then you can sub with teff flour or sorghum flour.

Tapioca Flour  . This is the necessary starch you need just to make sure the flours bind together nicely. Extra important to use a good starchy flour in vegan cakes since you don't have the eggs to assist in the structure.

Milled (ground) chia seeds. Chia seeds are great to use in vegan recipes lieu of eggs as they absorb moisture and form a gel-like consistency when mixed with liquid (in this case – water), which means the sponge has a little more elasticity and a moist and tender texture. I prefer using milled chia seeds in my baking recipes as they are not as noticeable in the finished recipe and breaking them down allows them to be mixed more evenly into the cake batter.

Coconut milk. Use coconut milk from a tin rather than the coconut drink in cartons. Make sure it has been mixed well so the solids haven't separated.

Apple cider vinegar. The acidity in the vinegar reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to help with the rise which is perfect for egg-free baking.

Light Soft Brown Sugar. Using brown sugar adds a gentle molasses flavour and moisture to the batter, enhancing the depth of taste and providing a subtle caramel undertone, contributing to a more flavourful and moist bake.

Coconut oil. I've used coconut oil here to enhance the coconut flavour but you could use olive oil.

Bicarbonate of soda. Also known as baking soda, this is a white crystalline powder that is commonly used as a leavening agent in baking.

Vanilla extract. You don’t need to use the best quality vanilla extract here as there's already a lot going on with the flavours and it won't make a difference. A supermarket brand is just fine.

Vegan chocolate. Use a dark chocolate and if you are serving to people with a dairy allergy or intolerance make sure it is suitable. Many vegan chocolate brands are labelled 'may contain dairy' due to the way it has been processed. This would not be suitable for a serious allergy.

Maple syrup. Used here to infuse its rich and unique flavour. Choose pure 100% maple syrup without added sugars or artificial ingredients for the best quality and flavour.

Salt. I like to use kosher salt in my baking as it has a round gentle flavour. Using salt in your baked goods lifts and sharpens all the other flavours.

Coconut flakes. This is just used to decorate the cake. It can be labelled unsweetened shredded coconut.

Step-by-step instructions

For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post. 

1. Chia egg. Mix the ground chia seeds with water and leave to thicken and gel.
2. Mix flours with desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
3. Beat the coconut milk with the apple cider vinegar until frothy then beat in the bananas, sugar, coconut oil, vanilla and chia egg.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry then pour into a loaf tin and bake.

For the glaze

1. Melt chocolate with coconut oil, maple syrup and salt in a bowl set over simmering water.
2. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3. Allow to thicken then spoon over cooled cake and sprinkle over coconut flakes.

Other Gluten-Free and Vegan Bakes You'll Love

This delicious fluffy Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Sponge Cake has layers of soft vanilla sponge filled with a whipped plant-based lemon cream and filled with fruity jam.

Banana Peanut Butter Streusel Muffins  are fluffy, generous and richly flavoured.

These incredible Chocolate Cupcakes have a rich flavour and moist bakery-style texture. The perfect choice if you need an allergy-safe option for kids parties or a not-so humble weekend treat for friends and family.