This easy Gluten Free Banana Cake has rich banana and deep brown sugar flavor with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. Vegan adaptable.
Banana Cake is like banana bread turned up to 10. It has big banana flavor, a caramel-like sweetness from brown sugar, just the right amount of warming cinnamon topped with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting that will have you licking your plate clean!
Reasons to love this recipe!
- Has the nostalgic flavor of traditional banana cake.
- Gluten free, dairy free, vegan adaptable, and can be sweetened with coconut sugar!
- You can add mix ins (think chocolate chips!) and swap the frosting to change up the flavor.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Gluten free flour - this recipe was developed with Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour. I recommend using it for best results.
- Almond flour - or almond meal.
- Baking soda
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Butter - dairy free or regular.
- Sugar - organic cane sugar, granulated sugar, or use coconut sugar for a naturally sweetened cake.
- Brown sugar - or coconut sugar.
- Eggs - or try flax eggs.
- Vanilla extract - use good stuff for the best flavor.
- Ripe bananas - make sure they are at least spotted, but preferably very brown!
- Dairy free buttermilk - use your dairy free milk of choice plus 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Or use regular buttermilk if not dairy free.
For the frosting:
- Cream Cheese - dairy free or regular. I used Kite Hill Cream Cheese.
- Butter - dairy free or regular.
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
How to make Gluten Free Banana Cake:
Make the buttermilk: In a measuring cup, stir together the dairy free milk and vinegar. Set aside for 5 minutes. You will see the milk start to curdle - just like buttermilk!
Whisk dry ingredients: Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Cream the butter: Add the butter and sugars to a stand mixer. Cream them together until light and fluffy.
Combine and bake: Add the eggs, vanilla, and bananas to the mixer. Mix until combined, scraping down the sides once or twice. Add in the flour and mix. Pour in the buttermilk and mix. Pour into your baking dish and bake until golden.
Make the frosting: While the cake is baking, cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and start the mixer on low speed. Once most of the powdered sugar is mixed in, increase the speed until it’s medium-high. Beat until very light and fluffy. Transfer the frosting to the fridge.
Assemble and enjoy: Once the cake is cooled completely, frost with a thick layer of frosting. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the frosting set. Slice and serve.
Storage?
Fridge: Store leftover cake in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Freezer: Store leftover cake in the freezer for up to 3 moths. Store in a tightly-sealed lidded container for best results. Thaw in the fridge overnight before serving.
Ripe bananas 101:
When it comes to banana cake, the riper the bananas, the sweeter the cake. Best case scenario, you want your bananas to be past spotted, and almost entirely brown with just a few yellow spots left.
You can also use spotted bananas, they will be less sweet, but still provide lots of banana flavor. Just don't use green or yellow bananas - they are too "green" tasting for this recipe.
When you're mashing the bananas for this recipe, skip it and throw them right in the stand mixer! The paddle will mash them perfectly and you won't have to wash another bowl! If making this recipe without a stand mixer, do mash them by hand first.
Variations
To keep things interesting, try adding in some mix ins like:
- chocolate chips - dark, milk, white, etc.
- toasted and chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans
- coconut flakes
Or swap the cream cheese frosting for:
- Chocolate Buttercream
- Vanilla Buttercream
- Or skip the frosting entirely and enjoy these as bars!
More gluten free baking recipes!
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies (Lofthouse style!)
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
Gluten Free Banana Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Softening Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This easy Gluten Free Banana Cake has rich banana and deep brown sugar flavor with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. Vegan adaptable.
Ingredients
Vegan Buttermilk:
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 ¾ cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ripe very bananas, mashed
Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
- In a measuring cup, stir together the dairy free milk and vinegar. Set aside for 5 minutes. You will see the milk start to curdle - just like buttermilk!
- In a bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour, almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Add the butter, sugar, and brown sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer. Mix on medium-high until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. I scrape the sides 2-3 times to ensure even mixing.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, and bananas to the mixer. Mix until combined, scraping down the sides once or twice.
- Add in the flour and mix until there are no white streaks of flour in the batter. Pour in the buttermilk and mix until incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until the top is puffed, golden, and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- While the cake cools, make the frosting. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and start the mixer on low speed. Once most of the powdered sugar is mixed in, increase the speed until it’s medium-high. Beat until very light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Place the frosting in the fridge until the cake has cooled.
- Once cool, generously frost the cake. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to set the frosting. Slice and serve!
Notes
Buttermilk: you replace the vegan buttermilk with ½ cup buttermilk.
Sugar: you can replace the granulated and brown sugar with equal parts coconut sugar.
Eggs: for a vegan cake, replace with flax or chia eggs.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/9th cake with frosting (made dairy free, with eggs)
- Calories: 572
- Sugar: 62g
- Sodium: 523mg
- Fat: 31g
- Saturated Fat: 19g
- Carbohydrates: 73g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 84mg
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