Our easy Gluten Free Banana Cake is moist and tender, perfect for using up overripe bananas.
This homemade GF Banana Cake recipe swaps whole wheat flour for a combination of gluten free oat flour, almond flour and cornstarch.
You can serve it as a simple snacking cake or slathered in creamy lemon glaze icing.
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What Is Gluten Free Banana Cake?
Banana Cake is a cake prepared using ripe bananas as a primary ingredient and typical cake ingredients like sugar, eggs and flour.
Banana Cake can be prepared in various ways, such as a banana layer cake, muffins or cupcakes. Steamed banana cake is also found in Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese cuisine.
Gluten Free Banana Cake, also known as GF Banana Cake, takes the traditional recipe concept and substitutes whole wheat flour for gluten free alternatives.
Gluten free baking is a staple for the celiac community as well as the growing number of people who have adopted gluten free diets.
Our moist Gluten Free Banana Cake recipe substitutes whole wheat flour for a mixture of oat flour, almond flour and cornstarch.
Enjoy slices of GF Banana Cake as a snacking cake all on its own or slather with our family’s favourite lemon glaze icing.
My Family Loves Gluten Free Banana Cake
My family loves baking.
We’ve mastered the art of sourdough bread, pretty pancakes, crunchy cookies and homemade pies.
When I was little my mom would dedicate hours to decorating specialty cakes for our birthdays. She’d visit the local bake shop to purchase cake pans in the shape of our favourite heroes of the moment, from My Little Pony to Cookie Monster.
She’d decorate our birthday cakes each year using specialty piping bags. Famously one year when I was a toddler, she was piping bright red fur onto a chocolate cake shaped like Elmo. Halfway through icing the cake she went to answer the phone and when she returned the icing had moved from the cakes surface to a joyous smear across my giggling face.
My love for eating cake into adulthood has been an honest and enthusiastic evolution. I’ve become a big fan of casual snacking cakes. They’re quick and easy to prepare since they don’t involve several layers and fillings or challenging icing designs.
My family love desserts that feature ripe bananas. Here are some of our favourites:
- Caribbean Coconut Rum Banana Bread Bundt Cake
- Chocolate Chip Caramel Banana Nut Ice Cream
- Moist Buttermilk Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
- Ginger Spiced Banana Pear Muffins
- Banana Pumpkin Muffins
- Banana Rhubarb Muffins
- Banana Prune Muffins
- Sticky Toffee Banana and Date Muffins
- Banana Carrot Muffins
- Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Best Ever Banana Muffins
Types of Gluten Free Flour
If it’s your first time gluten free baking you may not be familiar with the variety of flours you can use when baking muffins, cookies and squares.
Gluten Free baking requires the use of processed foods that are free of traditional whole wheat flour, often used to make bread like sourdough.
This GF Banana Cake recipe uses three gluten free flours: cornstarch, almond flour and oat flour.
Other gluten free flours you might want to substitute or use when baking at home include: Buckwheat Flour, Sorghum Flour, Amaranth Flour, Arrowroot Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Teff Flour, Corn Flour, Chickpea Flour, Coconut Flour, Tapioca Flour and Cassava Flour.
You May Also Enjoy These Gluten Free Recipe…
- Vegan Buckwheat Gluten Free Porridge
- Buckwheat Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Gluten Free Chickpea Flour Indian Pancakes
- Vegan Flourless Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Blueberry Mango Crepes with Coconut Flour
- Banana Oat Flour Pancakes
What Is The Difference Between Banana Bread and Banana Cake?
As their names suggest, banana bread is a type of bread made with mashed bananas, baked in a bread pan. Banana cake is a type of cake made with banana as the main ingredient, baked in a square, circular or bundt cake pan.
The main difference between banana bread and cake is that banana bread is firmer and denser in texture than banana cake. Banana Bread is typically not served with icing while banana cake often features a glaze.
How Do You Make Gluten Free Cakes Better?
The key to producing a moist and tender gluten free cake is experimentation in the kitchen. Trying a variety of flours such rice, tapioca or potato are great ways to add texture to your cakes in the absence of gluten found in whole wheat flour.
There are lots of gluten free self raising and plain flours available on the market which help product fantastic gluten free cakes.
Do Gluten Free Cakes Rise?
If you’re having issues with your gluten free cake rising you need to assess what flour you are using as well as how much leavening agent you have incorporated into the recipe.
Dense gluten free flours such as buckwheat may hinder the rise so best to pair it with a lighter flour like oat flour. Use the denser GF flours for cookies or pancakes. Lighter flours such as millet flour or sorghum flour will create a lighter result.
Don’t forget that baking soda ha a before date. Baking powder typically keeps its leavening potential for up to 6 months. Afterwards it’s ability to leaven reduce and you’ll find muffins and cakes don’t reach their former heights.
Gluten Free Banana Cake Recipe Baking Tips
If it’s your first time baking GF Banana Cake at home be sure to review our detailed step-by-step recipe below. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to get you started.
- We suggest using a high quality rubber spatula when scraping cake batter into baking tins.
- You’ll save yourself time and energy by using a stand mixer to beat the cake batter. You can also use a handheld egg beater or whisk as an alternative.
- We’ve prepared this recipe using a square cake pan but you could use a round cake pan if you prefer.
- Use an offset icing spatula to spread the lemon glaze icing evenly across the cake.
- If you are going to have leftovers store the cake in the fridge under a cake dome to keep it fresh.
- We’ve blitzed the wet ingredients in a blender to save time but you can add them separately if you prefer. Mashing ripe bananas with a fork, rather than blending them until smooth, allows you to have chunks of banana in the cake.
- Many banana cake recipes feature nuts like toasted walnuts or pecans. Feel free to add 1 cup of nuts to the batter for additional protein and crunch.
- For a creamier and tangy icing feel free to add a few tablespoons of cream cheese to the glaze.
What To Serve with GF Banana Cake
We love serving this easy Gluten Free Banana Cake as a snacking cake.
Bake it in the morning and by lunch it will have cooled so you can ice it and enjoy slices as a sweet snack in the afternoon or as dessert after dinner.
We also love serving a thick slice at tea time or during a coffee break. It pairs nicely with a hot pot of floral black tea or dark roast coffee.
You can also make a decadent ice cream sundae by serving a slice of GF Banana Cake with a scoop of chocolate, caramel or pralines & cream ice cream. Top the sundae with toasted nuts, slices of banana and caramel sauce.
Essential Cake Tools & Equipment
Whether you’re a novice baker or consider yourself a pastry king or queen, it’s important to outfit your kitchen with quality tools and equipment.
We’ve created a list of our favourite baking gadgets on Amazon to help you make this impressive Gluten Free Banana Cake at home!
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- French Knife
- Round Cake Pans
- Stand Mixer
- Cooling Rack
- Spatula
- Skillet
- Cake Turntable
- Offset Icing Knife
- Cake Dome
GF Banana Cake Health Benefits
Our Gluten Free Banana Cake recipe is packed full of healthy ingredients!
Containing starch and fibre, bananas are an excellent superfood for digestive health. They are a good source of heart-healthy potassium, as well as amino acids and vitamin B6, which help keep your brain healthy.
Eggs contain two vital nutrients that are not present in many foods: iodine and vitamin D. Eggs are also rich in tissue-building protein and vitamin B12, which helps your body manufacture blood cells.
Containing more protein, fibre, vitamin E and calcium that other nuts, almonds may reduce the risk of heart disease, keep your bones healthy, and help your body absorb essential nutrients.
Proving more soluble fibre than any other grain, oats also contain slow-release, low-GI carbohydrates. Oats are also rich in beta-glucan, which helps reduce high cholesterol and maintain blood sugar levels, and vitamin B1, which helps your body convert food into energy.
Rich in energy-boosting manganese, cinnamon is also antibacterial and may protect your brain against Alzheimer’s disease.
A rich source of phytochemicals and vitamin C, lemons help boost your immune system and neutralize free radicals that cause disease and skin aging. Lemons also protect against heart disease and help improve blood flow to the brain.
You May Also Enjoy These Dessert Recipes…
- Chewy Anzac Biscuits
- Vegan Gluten Free Thai Coconut Mango Glutinous Rice Balls
- Dairy & Gluten Free Vegetarian Peanut Butter Flapjacks
- Fresh Fig Frangipane Pistachio Tartlets
- Caribbean Coconut Rum Banana Bread Bundt Cake
- Mahalabia Middle Eastern Rose Pistachio Milk Pudding
- Maple Black Walnut Ice Cream
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Earl Grey Ice Cream
- Sweet Lebanese Sesame Tahini Rolls
- Swedish Ricotta Oatmeal Rhubarb Bars
- Moist Baileys Banoffee Cake
- Flaky Swedish Rhubarb Cherry Pie
- Skittles Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Caramel Banana Nut Ice Cream
- Chewy Easter Toffee Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Bars
- Turmeric Pumpkin Spice Indian Cake
How To Make Moist Gluten Free Banana Cake
Gluten Free Banana Cake
Equipment
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- Cake Pan
- blender
- spatula
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 3 Large Ripe Bananas
- 3 Large Eggs
- 3 tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- 1.5 cup Oat Flour
- 1/2 cup Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
Icing Glaze
- 1.5 cups Icing Sugar
- 1/4 cup Butter softened
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Lemon Zest
- 1 tbsp Whipping Cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 9×9″ cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a blender combine bananas, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla. Blend until smooth.
- Scrape down the sides with a spatula then add the dry ingredients: almond flour, oat flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pulse until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack.
- For the icing: In a medium-sized mixing bowl use a whisk to combine butter, icing sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and whipping cream.
- Pour glaze over cooled cake and using an offset spatula spread across the top of the cake evenly.
- Place the cake in the refrigerator to allow the glaze to set.
- Slice the cake into 12 slices and enjoy!
Nutrition
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