The Best Chocolate Banana Cake
with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting! Focusing on my low-glycemic approach, there's ZERO powdered sugar and ZERO oil in it, yet, it's every bit a scrumptious, gluten-free, snacking cake!
Have you tasted Chocolate Banana Cake or am I the only one who’s late to the party? During the pandemic, we lucked out with all the sourdough bread and banana bread reintroductions into the world, pulling millions of us in as we jumped into the kitchen for a weekly challenge of this or that. Nowadays though, to be honest…I’m a little bored of banana bread, but since it’s a favorite of my Hubby’s I decided to try Chocolate Banana Bread, and we’re so into it…..with…..Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting, of course!
Why I suggest you make it: The first reason is, it is delicious! It’s a different kind of banana bread, and the frosting amps it up to the level of being a better than usual, gluten-free dessert. The perfectly sweetened cake is rich and satisfying, and goes so well with the smooth, luscious frosting. The next reason, it’s low-glycemic, it’s a super simple to make, and honestly, I’m always so excited to contribute a “healthier” type of gluten-free cake into our celiac world.
Regarding the flours I used: You have the option to make it with a quality organic, gluten-free, all-purpose flour, such as Arrowhead Mills, or if you want to avoid gums and starches, you can make it with organic almond flour and organic oat flour, as I do. Does using different flours change the taste and texture of the cake? Yes, a bit. The Arrowhead Mills Organic GF/AP flour is a bit less airy and fluffy, but the taste is still very good. Most of my clients and customers avoid nuts, so I use the Arrowhead Mills flour for them. For me personally, I want the protein from almond flour, and don’t want to take in too many starches, so I prefer the almond and oat flour blend. I’ve included the measurements for both flour blends.
TIP #1: If you have a digital scale, I highly recommend weighing out the ingredients. This will guarantee a much more accurate and successful recipe than measuring by cups.
TIP #2: If you have a Grocery Outlet Bargain Market near you, it’s worth checking out to see if they have the Arrowhead Mills Organic All-Purpose, Gluten-free flour Blend. I recently bought 12 bags of it for $4.49 per bag, half the price of Amazon.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 40 minutes
Makes: one 9x9 rectangle cake /or one 6-inch round cake /or twelve small cupcakes
Ingredients for Chocolate Banana Cake
3 whole eggs
185g (1¼ cup) cane sugar (I use blonde coconut sugar)
1 tablespoon of gf vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed (*see note 1)
185g (3/4 cup) unsweetened apple sauce
165g (1½ cup) oat flour (**see note 2)
70g (½ cup) almond flour (**see note 2)
15g-20g (¼ cup) dutch-processed cocoa powder (less for a lighter cake, more for a darker cake)
2 teaspoons gf baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup toasted walnuts, for garnish (optional)
*Note 1: You can add a 4th banana, slice it horizontally, arrange it on top, and bake the slices on top of the cake, as seen in the video above.
**Note 2: The oat flour and almond flour in this recipe can be swapped out with 250g (2 cups) of 1:1 gluten-free, all-purpose flour
Ingredients for Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
(1) 8oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
80g (6 tablespoons) maple syrup
20g (¼ cup) dutch processed cocoa powder
Instructions for the Cake
Preheat oven to 350 °F (176°C). Lightly grease a baking pan with coconut oil (avocado, butter or tallow will also work). Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Using a hand blender or standing kitchen mixer, cream the eggs and sugar for 1 minute, or until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix well for 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a whisk as needed.
Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake, comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool down for 1-hour before inverting cake onto a plate or cake pan.
Instructions for Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting
Combine the cream cheese, maple syrup and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Whisk until ingredients are creamy and thoroughly mixed.
Using a butter knife, spatula or offset spatula, frost the cake, garnish with walnuts (optional), slice and serve.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.