This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This gluten free banana cake is super moist and tender even though it doesn't have a ton of added sugar. The secret is in really ripe bananas that are already super sweet!
my take
Nicole's Recipe Notes
This banana cake is softer and more tender than my recipe for the perfect one bowl gluten free banana bread. It has a super open, fluffy crumb, but it's not fragile and makes the best snacking cake.
It's made with super ripe bananas, a blend of white and brown sugars, and plenty of vanilla extract, so it's packed with banana flavor.
A thin layer of the simplest cream cheese frosting with some vanilla bean seeds just enough extra sweetness to this perfectly balanced banana cake.
Recipe ingredients
- Gluten free flour: Any high quality all purpose gluten free flour blend should work here. Make sure it's made with finely ground rice flour so your cake isn't gritty.
- Baking powder/soda: Add rise and help the cake brown in the oven.
- Salt: Brightens the other flavors and balances the sweetness.
- Sugars: A mixture of white and light brown sugars adds moisture, tenderness, and a bit more sweetness.
- Butter: Only 6 tablespoons of butter in the cake and another 2 in the frosting add moisture, tenderness and flavor.
- Bananas: Very ripe bananas have well-developed sugars in them that tenderize and sweetens the cake, plus add tons of flavor.
- Eggs: Add structure and help the cake rise.
- Milk: Adds moisture and flavor, and brings the cake batter together. Avoid fat free milk.
- Vanilla: Adds depth of flavor.
- Cream cheese: Adds tons of creamy flavor to the frosting, with a subtle tang.
- Confectioners' sugar: Adds sweetness and structure to the frosting.
How to make gluten free banana cake
Whisk together gluten free flour including xanthan gum, baking powder and soda, and salt. In a separate large bowl, beat 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter with white and light brown sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Using a spoon or spatula, mix in vanilla and mashed bananas, then milk, and finally the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Transfer the soft banana cake batter to a prepared 9-inch square baking dish, and smooth the top. Bake until the top springs back when pressed in the center, about 22 minutes.
Beat softened cream cheese, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar together until smooth. Frost the cooled cake, slice, and serve.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Freeze ripe bananas
I always have bananas for baking in my house, just in the freezer. When bananas reach peak ripeness, I peel them, chop them into large chunks, and freeze the chunks. For baking, just defrost as much as you need in the microwave, or at room temperature. Add the bananas and their liquid to the batter when you bake.
Make a lighter cake
You can replace the milk with light sour cream, 1 of the 2 eggs with 2 egg whites, and reduce the butter to 5 tablespoons. Replace the cream cheese in the frosting with light cream cheese, or just skip the frosting.
Remove from the pan
After the cake is done baking, don't let it sit in the pan for more than 10 minutes before placing the cake on its own on a wire rack to finish cooling. If you leave it in the pan for too long, the outside of the cake steams in the warm air and can become a bit chewy.
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
To make this cake dairy free, replace the milk with your favorite unsweetened unflavored nondairy milk (I like almond milk or Ripple milk). Replace the butter with Melt or Miyoko's Creamery vegan butter. If your nondairy butter is salted, use only 1/8 teaspoon of salt or omit it altogether. For the frosting, either use a nondairy cream cheese if you have one you really like, or just omit it.
Egg free
You can try using one “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds mixed with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water until it gels) per whole egg, and 25 grams of aquafaba per egg white.
Bananas
If you like banana cake, but don't want too much banana flavor, you can use less ripe bananas. I would also add another 2 to 4 tablespoons more granulated sugar so the cake is still sweet and tender enough, though. You can also try replacing up to 50 grams of the mashed bananas with smooth applesauce.
Gluten Free Banana Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Hand mixer (or stand mixer)
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 tablespoons (72 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (200 g) mashed VERY ripe bananas, (about 2 medium-sized bananas, peeled and mashed)
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) milk, at room temperature
For the frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (115 g) confectioners’ sugar
For a lighter version of the cake
- 5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, in place of 6 tablespoons
- 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg, in place of eggs
- 2 (50 g) egg whites, in place of eggs
- ½ cup (120 g) light sour cream, in place of 1/2 cup milk
For a lighter version of the frosting
- 6 ounces light cream cheese, at room temperature, in place of cream cheese and butter
- ¾ cup (86 g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease or line a 9-inch square baking dish and set it aside.
Make the cake
- In a small bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and whisk to combine well. Set the bowl aside.
- In a large bowl, place the 6 tablespoons of (5 if the lighter version) butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, and beat well with a hand mixer until smooth and light.
- Add the eggs (or egg and egg whites in the lighter version), and beat until smooth.
- Add the vanilla and mashed bananas and mix with a spoon or spatula until just combined.
- Add the milk, and mix until just combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, and mix until just combined. The batter will be thick but not stiff.
- Scrape the cake batter into the prepared pan, and smooth into an even layer with a wet spatula.
- Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the center.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting
- Place all the frosting ingredients in a large bowl (or the clean bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) and beat with a hand mixer until smooth (about 3 minutes).
- Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake, then slice the cake with a sharp knife into 9 equal pieces. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
The unfrosted cake will stay fresh at room temperature, wrapped tightly, for up to 3 days. After you frost it, you don't want the frosting to spoil, so it's best to refrigerate it, still wrapped tightly, for up to another 2 days. After that, it may begin to dry out.
For longer storage, wrap individual squares tightly in freezer-safe wrap and freeze. Defrost at room temperature. If the cake hasn't been frosted, you can microwave frozen slices for about 20 seconds to defrost. Do not microwave frosted cake slices or the frosting will melt.
Made this for a Bunco gathering and got rave reviews! Followed the recipe for the regular version. The only change I made was to add some vanilla paste in addition the the vanilla bean to the frosting. I cut it into small bite size pieces.
Sounds delicious, Nancy!
Can chocolate chips be added to this Banana Cake recipe?
Thanks!!
Hi, Anita, I’ve never done that, but I don’t see why not! I would only add about 4 ounces of chips, though, to start. Great idea!
Thank you!! 😊
Keep up the great work! I appreciate your recipes so much!
THANK YOU for this delicious use of our too-far-gone bananas! :D You make good GF baking attainable!!
My question is about substituting different types of sugar, only because I don’t always have each option on hand. This calls for white and light brown sugar. Could I use coconut palm sugar for some/all of either of those? What about honey? And since I’m asking, what about dark brown sugar or turbinado? (maybe this is becoming a larger question… how do these change the end results?)
Hi, Jeana,
Take a look at the section in the blog post about Ingredients and Substitutions. I gave my best guess for how to replace the sugars with sugar alternatives. You might be able to replace the light brown sugar with dark brown sugar, or possibly with coconut palm sugar, but palm sugar doesn’t have the moisture that brown sugar (dark or light has), so it may change the end result. You can’t replace the white sugar with palm sugar. Hope that helps!
I measured my bananas, used the right pan and still the cake is in the oven for 45 minutes and not done. Have I done something wrong or is there a typo with the cooking time? Thanks!
Hi, Tina,
The recipe is correct as written. If your cake isn’t done in 45 minutes, it sounds like your oven temperature is off. It would be burned by then!
Hi Nicole,
A question: are you using USA pans when you bake? I have a USA Pan loaf pan and love it. Just wondering if you use their 8″ and 9″ and 13″ x 9″ cake pans when baking?
Thanks a million!
Susan
Hi, Susan,
I used to use tons of USA Pans, but I rarely do anymore. Frankly, I don’t like the lines in the pans that end up in my baked goods. I still use a muffin pan of theirs from time to time, though. My cake pans now are made mostly by Fat Daddio.
As a diabetic I live by nutritional information. Although I can calculate it myself (I also us Sparkspeople.com) but I appreciate it already being with the recipe. My daughter is the gluten free member of the family and she really enjoys your recipes.
Can’t wait to make this. If its anything like the GF banana bread, which I seem to make weekly. My son will love this, Thanks again.