I’ve not had much luck with gluten free cakes so far. They’ve been OK, pleasant enough I suppose and Oscar’s been happy enough to wolf them all down, so they can’t have been that bad. But I don’t know, they just didn’t taste quite right, if you know what I mean. So I decided to give our family favourite a gluten free make over and see if I couldn’t make a really good gf cake.
Ben’s absolute favourite cake is Chocolate Banana Bread. It’s a slightly tinkered with version of this Nigella staple and I’ve made it many times. It’s great fun to make, primarily because I love squishing the bananas, and so I thought Oscar would enjoy it too. We gave it a go two weeks ago and it was such a roaring success, with everyone who tried it, that we’ve made three more since. And not one has hung around for long! It has a moist quality I’ve not found in other gf cakes and using good size overly ripe fruit gives it a wonderful banana sweetness.
So just for you this is our gf version of the best banana bread you’ll ever taste.
As in previous recipes we used my Kitchen Aid, but you could also do this by hand.
- 175 grams plain gluten free flour (we use Doves Farm)
- 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
- 2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder (we use Waitrose Cooks Ingredient Baking Powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 125 grams unsalted butter
- 150 grams caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 4 good size ripe bananas (the riper the better!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 170 C/gas mark 3/325 F.
- Mash the bananas with a fork until a smooth puree and leave to one side.
- Put the GF flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bow and mix well.
- Melt the butter. I do this by microwaving in short bursts.
- Add the melted butter and sugar to the mixer bowl and beat until blended. Beat in one egg at a time, then add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on slow, add a third of the flour mixture at a time, mixing well each time.
- Pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake for 1-11/4 hours.
- Leave in the tin to cool for half an hour before inverting cake onto cooling rack and peeling off the paper.
We assume it lasts well for a few days in an airtight container blah blah blah….. It’s only lasted a few days wrapped in foil in our house. Absolutely delicious when the boy’s gone to bed, sliced thickly, warmed in the microwave and severed with Vanilla Ice Cream!
