The world is just a better place when there is cake in it and this Hummingbird cake is going to sing straight to your heart. Zero oil, zero refined sugars AND gluten free! This cake is so delicious that it will even impress your non-vegan friends and family. The balance between the sweetness of the pineapple and bananas, the tartness of the creamy frosting and the rich toasted flavor of the walnuts will make this your “go to” cake for any special occasion.
Ingredients
Cake
3 1/2 cups rolled oats ground lightly into flour (over grinding will prevent bread from baking through)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups mashed bananas (4 bananas)
1 cup crushed pineapple
3 flax eggs (3 Tbsp flax meal + 6 Tbsp water)
2 cups dates
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups walnuts or pecans (toast in 350° oven for about 5 minutes)
Frosting
2 cups cashews ( soaked in 4 cups water for 2 hours)
4 medjool dates or 8 deglet dates
juice of one small lemon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix the flax meal and water together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Mix together the oat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Blend the dates, almond milk and vanilla in the blender until smooth.
- Stir the blended mixture into the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the flax egg, mashed bananas and pineapple.
- Fold in 1 1/2 cups of the walnuts.
- Divide mixture between 3 parchment lined cake pans (9 inch)
- Bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Let cool
- Add all frosting ingredients except for the 2 Tbsp of water to blender and blend until smooth.
- Add remaining water if necessary while blending frosting.
- Place cake on a cake tray or plate.
- Smooth on about 1/2 cup of the frosting onto the top of that cake.
- Add second cake to the top of that.
- Smooth on about 1/2 cup of frosting onto the top of that cake.
- Add third cake and use remaining frosting to frost entire top and sides.
- Sprinkle remaining walnuts on top of cake.
- Keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
41 comments
This looks delicious! Is it possible to make in one type of pan, either a Bundt or 9×13, rather than 3 round ones? If so how long would it bake for? I can’t wait to make this!!
I made these into cupcakes…halved the recipe which gave me 12! I cooked them for 28 minutes but I think I’ll give them another 5 next time…a bit wet inside. They were delicious!!
I love how you write out the directions, it’s so easy to understand
I enjoy your videos except for the background piano music…would you consider loosing it? It’s really not necessary and i feel is distracting from your content in my opinion.
This is both easy to make and pleasing to the eye. From my baking experience, I can tell is going to be delicious too!
I LOVE OATS! And the combination of cinnamon, nuts and fruits, you managed to turn an afternoon treat into practically, breakfast! It makes you watch the alarm until it goes off, so you can run into the kitchen. My only concern is that tropical fruit have the highest concentration of sugar and if you add the 2 cups of dates, you have a ticking bomb in your hands (especially for diabetics). Have you thought of using stevia instead? Thanx, anyway.
I don’t have much experience with stevia, sorry
How much stevia would you use instead of the dates?
I don’t have any experience with stevia so I’m not sure, sorry.
@Stefanos S, My experience with dates in other recipes is it’s not usually necessary to use so many. I’ll try to use less. Can’t wait to make it. Looks amazing!
Wow, can’t wait to try this cake! One question, do you think I could sub bananas with applesauce?
I haven’t tried it but I think it would work.
The recipe doesn’t say when to add the flax eggs in…
You add it when you add the banana mixture.
Thank you for letting me know Janet. Fixed it. You add the flax eggs when you mix in the banana mixture.
Do you have to use 3 pans or could you do it in just one or maybe two???
I would like to take this on vacation. How long does it last?
It is good on the countertop for 2-3 days but up to a week or a little more in the fridge, in an airtight container.
Thanks!
Great recipe, Jill!
Alas, I do not have oats at the moment. Would regular flour work well as a substitute?
I haven’t made this recipe with regular flour so I’m not sure, sorry
I also cut the recipe in half and made 12 cupcakes. Very good–
I can hardly wait to try this, Jill. Thanks for a great video (I love the background music) and easy to follow recipe.
I found you today some how, I’m not sure how.lol
I can’t wait to tell my husband about your program.thank you for doing this for me and everybody else.
Just wondering if you would drain the pineapple first or use the juice. Thanks.
Use the juice too.
Saw someone made this on reddit and cannot wait to try. Thanks for making cake my family can eat and sharing the recipe 😍
Any suggestions for alternative frosting? Cashew allergy here.
You could use almonds instead
Hey Jill I am assuming you drain the cashews before blending. Please confirm. Made the cake tonight and will frost tomorrow for my birthday!
Yes, drain the cashews
I love your show and I love the background music, please do not change a thing
Loved it! It tastes really good, but is also very satiating. Everyone was full after 1-2 pieces. That’s the WFPB magic 🙂 The difference to conventional cakes is really noticeable in terms of satiety.
The batter is quite dense, but also moist despite the lack of oil, so that’s nice.
The only bad thing was that the cashew frosting turned yellow over night (I assume because of the lemon; maybe I used too much), so it didn’t look as nice the next morning. It didn’t affect the taste though.
Has anyone ever added shredded carrots for this recipe? Would like to make it more like a carrot cake. If so, how much…I’m thinking 1/2 cup.
Waiting for my cookbook to arrive January 6, can wait to try thr humming bird cake and many more recipes!!
Made this cake this weekend. The flavor is excellent, the smell of it baking was glorious. Unfortunately the texture was extremely dense and gummy. Followed directions exactly. Did I underbake it? Frosting also yellowed and basically almost disappeared into cake after being refrigerated. Help,
My guess would be that you might have overground the oats.Sorry you had this experience Donna.
So what is the ideal texture of the oat flour?
It should still be a bit gritty. You should still be able to see little bits of the oats still.
So maybe I should grind oats rather than use the oat flour I bought? Also, I will be making this in the morning, and just realized I have 3 8-inch pans but not 3 9-inch pans. I imagine I will need to add a few minutes to baking time. Any other advice?
You are right, I would grind the oats. It really seems to do better. I would probably add at least 5-10 more minutes for baking.
I did add an extra several minutes and I also lowered the baking temperature since I was adding time. The cake was delicious. And it was easy to grind it so that some grit remained! Thank you.