Popped together this lovely gluten free banana loaf the other day, as I had a couple of bananas that didn’t look great. It proved to be the perfect way of using them up.
The banana loaf is an adaption of the BBC good food ‘Brilliant Banana loaf’ recipe. I just switched a few ingredients to make it completely gluten free. I love the BBC Good food site for excellent, reliable recipes. They do have a dedicated gluten free section (as with my site, always double check the ingredients suggested to ensure they’re gluten free). However, many of their standard recipes can easily be adapted to make them gluten free too.
The original recipe suggests decorating the cake with glacé icing water and banana chips. But instead, I sprinkled demerara sugar over the top before baking; which resulted in a delicious sweet crunchy topping.
I have experimented a couple of times with this recipe since I put the original post on the blog, as I wanted to see if it would work using the very simple ‘all in one method’. And great news, it does! So not only is the cake gorgeous, but it can also be rustled up in no time at all.
Ingredients
140g butter, softened (I 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 (add ¼ teaspoon of *xanthan gum if the flour doesn’t already contain this or guar gum)
2 small ripe bananas, mashed
1 dessertspoon of demerara sugar or soft brown sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4/160C Fan.
Grease and line (or use a ready-made loaf tin liner) a 2lb loaf tin.
Place all the ingredients (except for the demerara sugar) in a large bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until light and creamy.
Transfer the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
Sprinkle over the demerara sugar before popping it into the oven.
Bake for about 40 minutes. To check it’s done, insert a skewer or sharp knife into the centre of the cake. 
Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Recipe notes and suggestions:
The banana loaf is best eaten within a couple of days. It can also be frozen.
Add 1 teaspoon of gluten free baking powder to the flour if using plain or all purpose gluten free flour.
The gluten free banana loaf is fab just how it comes, however in our house we love it spread with butter!
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.
I’ve shared a quick demo of me rustling up a banana loaf on my YouTube channel. Click here to watch.
Thanks for checking out the recipe. Any questions please do give me a shout.
For now,
Liz x
*Check this product to ensure there are no gluten containing ingredients or ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ warnings on the pack. If in doubt leave it out.
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