Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Banana Cake | Allergy-Friendly Birthday Cake

Preheat the oven to 175°C / 345°F. Line the bottom of a 22 cm loaf pan with parchment paper, grease the sides, and dust them lightly with flour. Preparing the pan in advance is essential; once the batter is mixed, there is no time to prepare it.

Mash soft, speckled bananas with a fork in a large bowl. Break up any large chunks, but do not puree them; tiny pieces a few millimeters wide leave moist pockets in the cake. The riper the bananas, the sweeter and moister the cake. Greenish bananas will not work for this recipe.

Add the sunflower oil, oat milk, and vanilla to the mashed bananas. Whisk for 30 seconds. Do not add the apple cider vinegar yet; the rest of the batter must be ready before the vinegar meets the baking soda.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl. Make sure no lumps of baking soda remain; a lump will leave a soapy taste in that spot. Sift the dry ingredients if needed.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in two batches, folding from the bottom up with a spatula. Stop as soon as no streaks of flour remain; overmixing makes the cake tough. Pour in the apple cider vinegar last, fold it in with three or four strokes, and immediately pour the batter into the pan.

Place the pan on the middle rack of a 175°C / 345°F oven and bake for 40–42 minutes. Do not open the oven before the thirtieth minute. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without wet batter and with only a few dry crumbs, and the top springs back when lightly pressed.