Popped together this lovely gluten free banana loaf the other day, as I had a couple of bananas that didn’t look great and it was the perfect way of using them up. I followed the BBC good food ‘Brilliant Banana loaf’ recipe, just switching a few ingredients to make it completely gluten free. Love the BBC Good food site for excellent and reliable recipes. They do have a dedicated gluten free section (as with my site, always double check the ingredients you use to make sure gf). But, also many of their standard recipes can easily be adapted to make them gluten free. Just like I did for this banana loaf.
The original recipe suggests water icing and banana chips on the top of the loaf. But instead I sprinkled demerara sugar over the mixture before baking, which resulted in a delicious sweet crunchy topping.
I have experimented a couple of times with this recipe since I put my original post on, as I wanted to see if it would work out by using the very simple ‘all in one method’. And great news, it worked a treat! So not only is the cake gorgeous, but it can be rustled up in no time at all too!
Ingredients
140g butter (as always, I like to use Lurpak full fat spreadable butter)
140g caster sugar
1 teaspoon of *vanilla extract
2 large eggs
140g gluten free self-raising flour or mix (I’ve used Lidl and Sainsbury’s gf flour and also made it with Juvela gluten free mix)
1 teaspoon *baking powder (you don’t need to add this if you use gf self raising flour)
2 ripe small bananas, mashed
1 dessertspoon of demerara sugar or soft brown sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4/Fan 160C
Grease and line or pop a ready-made greaseproof loaf tin liner into a 2lb loaf tin.
Pop all the ingredients (except for the demerara sugar) in a large bowl and beat together with an electric mixer (I just used a hand held one) until light and creamy.
Transfer the mixture into the lined loaf tin and even the top out with a rounded knife or the back of a spoon.
Sprinkle demerara sugar over the top of the mixture and pop into the oven
Bake for about 40 minutes. To check it’s done, gently press the top of the cake it should feel firm but springy. You could also insert a skewer or sharp knife into the centre of the cake. It should come out clean once fully baked.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before taking out and popping onto a cooling rack.
So, impressed with this gluten free banana loaf and of course that’s why I wanted to share it with you. It’s lovely just as it is, but also works well spread with butter and enjoyed with a hot cuppa. For the ultimate treat: slightly warm a nice chunk of the cake, add freshly sliced banana, a scoop of a good vanilla *ice cream and a generous drizzle of hot butterscotch sauce.
The banana loaf is best to be eaten within a couple of days. But don’t worry if you don’t manage to polish it all off, as it can be frozen for a later date.
Liz x
*Check this product out to ensure no gluten containing ingredients or ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ warnings on the pack. If in doubt leave it out.
6 comments
Liz that looks scrummy 😋. I’ll defo have a go at that. Thank you 😘😍.
Thanks so much Carol – glad it’s made you want to pop one together!x
Gonna make this with my grandchildren for their daddy’s birthday ( who, like you has CD) on Monday, any suggestions for the topping?
Very Kind Regards
Nana Lynn
Hi, I do hope that I am in time with my reply. I think a nice vanilla cream cheese frosting would work really well with this banana loaf. The cream cheese frosting recipe that is on my carrot cake cupcakes post would be just the ticket. I would suggest that if you are just decorating the top of the banana loaf, to halve the quantity and also add a teaspoon of gf vanilla extract. A toffee or chocolate buttercream would also be really nice with this cake.
Happy baking!
Liz x
Where did I go wrong? I got a cake with a centre that has no texture and is more like a solid custard. It tastes good, the outside looks fine and it smells divine. It was nowhere near cooked at 160 deg in 40minutes and it took an hour and 25 minutes.
Hi Barbara,
Many thanks for getting in touch.
I’m really sorry that you had a problem with the banana loaf you made. I’ve made this a few times and it’s turned out great each time. And whilst I’ve sometimes needs to bake the cake for maybe an extra 5 minutes, it’s never needed the length of time you had to bake yours for.
I’ve taken another good look at the recipe to try and see what may have been the problem. Here are my thoughts:
The bananas may have been larger than the ones I used – I originally suggested medium in the recipe but I have amended the size to small as a feel it’s a clearer indication on what size to use.
You mentioned that you baked the cake at 160C. This would be the correct preheated temperature for a Fan oven, however it would need to be 180C for an electric one.
I’ve only ever made the banana loaf with Lurpak full fat spreadable butter and different spreads etc can perform differently.
I hope that the above is helpful. I do have got a few bananas that have seen better days in the garage, so will test out the recipe again to be sure all is OK.
Thanks again for getting in touch.
Liz