Banana cakes are definitely one of the best kinds of cakes. They come in different and delicious forms and this vegan banana pudding poke cake is one of my new favourites. It's topped with a whipped dairy free frosting and a homemade caramel sauce, making it perfect for sharing or enjoying by yourself.
I love this recipe so much because these cakes take less than 30 minutes to bake inside the oven. Once you try one slice of this treat, you're going to want more and more!
I love to serve this poke cake with a splash of warm dairy free custard as it soaks beautifully into the soft spongy texture. The center of cake is filled with a sweet and gooey banana pudding which takes it to new level.
Some other banana recipes which you should try and are equally as comforting are my vegan banana cream cheesecake, vegan single serve banana bread baked oats, vegan cinnamon streusel banana bread and vegan banana brownies recipes.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Delicious Toppings - Not only is there both frosting AND caramel in this recipe, they're also so complimentary which is amazing. It's very similar to the caramel that I used in my vegan salted caramel cheesecake and vegan sticky date pudding cake.
- The Best Texture - This cake is the softest banana cake I've ever made. In fact, it's even softer than my vegan biscoff banana cake. That's saying something! It's also so moist and the gooey filling makes it even better.
- Easy to Make - This cake takes hardly any time to prepare and the topping and filling are also so easy to assemble.
- Allergy Friendly & Plant Based - This banana poke cake is fully vegan and dairy free.
Ingredient Notes
- Ripe Bananas - Using Ripe Bananas for the cake batter will improve both the texture and the flavor. The same applies to the banana pudding filling, which will have bursting flavor if you opt for a riper banana.
- Vegan Condensed Milk - You can either buy a store-bought variety or make my version instead.
- Vegan Cream Cheese - This will be used for the frosting on top. Make sure that it is at room temperature before you use it so that there will be no lumps. We want the frosting to turn out like the one in my vegan mascarpone chocolate sheet cake bars and vegan rasmalai cake recipes.
- Vegan Block Butter - Once again, it is best if you let the vegan block butter come to room temperature before using it for the frosting.
- Cornstarch - This works as a fantastic thickener for the caramel.
See recipe card for full information on individual ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- If you don't fancy having caramel on top of the frosting you can change the topping. Why not try melted chocolate, melted peanut butter or even melted Biscoff spread like I did for my vegan biscoff cookies instead? They all work very well and they're all delicious options.
- You can take a hint of the banana flavor out of the cake if you feel there is too much by making the filling plain and omitting the mashed bananas. I personally love the bananas flavors throughout the cake but I'm just putting this out there as an option.
How To Make Vegan Banana Pudding Poke Cake
For the full method, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Combine the dry cake ingredients inside a large mixing bowl.
2: Add the wet ingredients and fold until. a batter forms.
3: Pour the banana cake batter into a lined, square cake tin. Bake in the oven.
4: Let the cake cool down.
5: Poke holes in the cake about 3/4 of the way down.
6: Make the banana pudding filling.
7: Pour the banana pudding over the cake until all of the holes are filled.
8: Make the dairy free frosting inside a stand mixer.
9: Spread the frosting evenly over the banana cake.
10: Make the caramel topping.
11: Drizzle the caramel over the frosting and serve.
Expert Tips
Use ripe bananas - Bananas with a few brown spots are the best type to use as these possess the most flavor and also acts as a great egg replacer inside the cake batter.
Don't over-mix the cake batter - This will make the texture of the cake dense and unappealing. Be careful and gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to ensure that you get the best results possible.
Recipe FAQs
You can but I personally prefer to add them just before serving so that they are fresh, instead of leaving them in the fridge to go brown.
Place inside an airtight container and store inside the fridge for 3-4 days.
When you add it to the center of a poke cake it increases both the moistness, as well as the flavor. Just make sure that when you make pudding from scratch, it has a good consistency. Otherwise it can ruin the texture, doing the opposite to its purpose.
More Vegan Banana Recipes That You Will Love
If you tried this Vegan Banana Pudding Poke Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
Vegan Banana Pudding Poke Cake with Caramel
Ingredients
For the banana cake:
- 190 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 125 g granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large ripe bananas mashed
- 225 ml soy milk
- 1.25 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 90 ml vegetable oil
For the filling:
- 320 g vegan condensed milk or store bought version see notes
- 1 Tablespoon plant milk
- 1 large ripe banana mashed completely
For the frosting:
- 60 g vegan cream cheese room temperature
- 60 g vegan block butter room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon coconut cream can refrigerated overnight, you need the thick part on top
- 250 g powdered sugar sifted
Caramel topping:
- 30 g coconut cream
- 0.5 Tablespoon vegan cream cheese
- 0.5 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 90 g brown sugar
- 0.5 teaspoon vegan butter
- Pinch of salt
- Sliced banana to taste, optional
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F) and line an 8-inch, square cake tin with parchment paper. Set aside.
Make the banana cake batter:
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and bananas inside a large mixing bowl.
- Now, pour in the soy milk, apple cider vinegar and vegetable oil. Fold into a smooth cake batter until there are no pockets of flour remaining. Make sure that you don’t over-mix the batter so that you can achieve the best texture possible.
Bake the cake:
- Pour your banana cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes. A skewer will come out clean.
- Let the cake cool inside the tin for 10-15 minutes then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake has cooled, use the bottom of a wooden spoon to poke holes into it in 1-inch intervals. Don’t poke all the way down to the bottom of the cake. Instead, go about ¾ of the way down.
- Mix together the condensed milk, soy milk and mashed bananas until combined. Pour the mixture over the cake so that the holes become full. Spread it around the cake with a palette knife or the bottom of the spoon.
- Don’t let the holes overflow with banana pudding. If you have any of the condensed milk banana pudding filling leftover you can use it for something else such as, an oatmeal topping or a banana smoothie.
Make the frosting:
- Add the whisk attachment to your stand mixer and cream together the vegan cream cheese, vegan butter and coconut cream on a high speed. The mixture will become creamy and a little lumpy due to the coconut cream.
- Switch your stand mixer to a medium speed, then gradually pour in the powdered sugar in increments until it is all combined.
- Continue to beat the frosting on a high speed for 5 minutes until it is creamy, thick and the lumps have disappeared.
Assemble the frosting:
- Spread the frosting over the banana pudding poke cake and smooth it out with a palette knife. Place the cake in the fridge while you make the caramel.
Make the caramel topping:
- Add all of the caramel ingredients to a small saucepan and place over a medium heat.
- Stir continuously until the coconut cream melts. Once the caramel starts to bubble, reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Continue to stir constantly.
- Remove the caramel from the heat and let it cool at room temperature so it can thicken. Drizzle the caramel over the cake.
- Place the cake back in the fridge for a further 1-2 hours before serving.
Video
Notes
- Bananas with a few brown spots are the best type to use as these possess the most flavor and also acts as a great egg replacer inside the cake batter.
- This will make the texture of the cake dense and unappealing. Be careful and gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to ensure that you get the best results possible.
- The link to my vegan condensed milk recipe is on the 'Ingredient Notes' section.
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