This healthy, melt-in-the-mouth, whole-wheat vegan Banana Chia Cake with Crumb topping is low-fat and guilt-free. Vegan, soy-free, nut-free recipe.
That name's a mouthful, I know, but wait until you can stuff some of this incredible treat into your mouth. You will be trilling out that name out over and over again, effortlessly. Honest.
My Whole Wheat Vegan Banana Chia Cake with Crumble Topping is really quite divine and a revelation. It's healthy with the wholesome goodness of wholegrain, bananas, applesauce and chia seeds, those tiny little black specks that pack an antioxidant wallop. It's also low-fat. But what really makes it a winner is how delicious it is. It is tender, soft, and it will melt in your mouth like a snowflake. How much more can you ask of a cake?
If you don't have access to chia seeds, or don't want to use them, you can add poppy seeds into this recipe. They would be perfect too and they will add that slight crunch the chia seeds give this cake. I love chia seeds because of how good they are for you. You can throw them into you oatmeal, grind them up for for a Stuffed French Toast, and when you have absolutely nothing else left to do with them...well, you can bake them into this cake.
The weekend's knocking at the door and who am I to ignore it? Desi and I are seeing some old friends after a long time this weekend. Perhaps I also will have some time to tend to my garden. The lilies are out right now and they are so gorgeous, they break my heart. Maybe the deer will come by and eat them tonight...okay, that sounds perverse, I know, but what else are lilies for? Besides, I know the deer will enjoy them even more than I do.
Have a great weekend, all!
More vegan cake recipes
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Vegan Zucchini Bread
- Vegan Mango Cheesecake
- Vegan Brown Sugar Pound Cake
Vegan Banana Chia Cake with Crumb Topping Recipe
Vegan Banana Chia Cake with Crumb Topping
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour (use regular whole wheat or durum atta flour if you prefer)
- ¼ cup chia seeds (can substitute with black or white poppy seeds)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 very ripe bananas (mashed)
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil (or any vegetable oil)
- ½ cup sugar
For crumb topping
- ¼ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil (or other vegetable oil)
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chia seeds.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil and applesauce.
- Add the bananas and vanilla and mix well.
- Add the flour mixture and mix until everything's moistened and well-mixed.
- Oil and flour a cake pan. I used a square pan that's 9 X 9 inches but an 8 X 8 inch pan would be perfect too. Or use an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan.
- Pour the batter into the pan.
- Prepare the crumb topping by mixing all the ingredients-- the flour, sugar and oil-- together until everything's moistened.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top of the cake batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the pan on the center rack and bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool on a rack, then cut into squares and eat.
Helen
Might maple syrup work in place of sugar (in main part of recipe), and if so, how much and should I reduce other liquids, say, applesauce?
I've already made this once with golden granulated sugar and it was gorgeous, despite some modifications....I used wholegrain spelt instead of wholewheat pastry flour (we don't get that here in the uk), double banana instead of applesauce, and yoghurt instead of oil. It rose beautifully and was a lot lighter than I imagined.
X
Vaishali
Use maple syrup in the same proportion as sugar. Sugar is actually a "wet" ingredient in baking because it melts into a liquid when baked.
Helen
Thank you - again!
Brittany
I have made this a hand full of times and every one LOVES it. Gave me some serious baking street cred, ha. So good, I had to say thank you. THANK YOU!
Vaishali Honawar
Brittany, so glad you liked it. Thanks for the feedback!
Mala
Hi Vaishali,
Thank you for yet another great recipe ! Just made them and half of them gone as it came out of the oven !
They turned out just great. Love your website , I have tried many of your recipes and none of them have failed.
Would love to try each of them if I only had the time 🙂
Vaishali
Dear Mala, thanks for your lovely message, and encouraging words. You're awesome! 🙂 So glad you tried the cake recipe.
Sailaja
Hi Vaishali,
I have been peeking at your site on and off, mainly when I run out ideas for my egg, wheat etc allergic child, who is also a vegetarian. I truly appreciate you sharing these recipes, which have ended up in my kitchen and tasted delicious even after considerable modifications.
I am eager to try this cake soon,
Thank you for sharing,
Sailaja
Shweta
Can we replace whole wheat flour with multigrain flour that we get in Indian stores? Also, how about replacing applesauce with date paste?
I know these are important changes that will entirely alter the taste. Just curious to know your thoughts.
Thanks.
Vaishali
Hi Shweta, I am not familiar with the multigrain flour in Indian stores and what flours are in it, but here's what I think: you can replace with multigrain flour as long as you don't have too much of very low gluten flours like rye in there that would make the cake very dense. If you find a gluten-free flour mix, you can try that so long as it's meant for baking and would have the right proportions of ingredients to bind the cake.
About the date paste, it'd be far thicker and far sweeter than the applesauce, which would definitely alter texture and taste. Also, dates have a strong flavor which might overpower the banana. You can just double the amount of bananas -- four instead of two-- if you don't want to use the applesauce for any reason. As for the date paste, I would be reluctant to say anything one way or the other, unless I'd had a chance to try it myself.
Ellen Lederman
This sounds really good. I think I will treat us to the crumbly topping (even if it does make it messier to eat out when we get a coffee or chai).
I liked that you mentioned the black chia seeds. We have always used white, but now can't find them---so we will learn to enjoy little black specks (we use black sesame seeds, so why not? Although I do make a chia seed pudding---not sure how it will look with black seeds....)
Vaishali
Hi Ellen, I only get the black chia seeds here, and those are what I always use. I actually like the look of the tiny black flecks in foods I add them to. Hope you try this! 🙂
Jayashree
Very interesting recipe, looks very tempting, loved the crumbly top.Thanks for sharing.
Vaishali
Thanks, Jayashree.