- Ali
I’m a great one for saving ingredients then doing nothing with them so when I spotted 3 unripe bananas in the fruit bowl and I already had a freezer full of frozen banana pieces ready to make smoothies I thought I’d better use them up immediately or they’d be making compost in the wormery by next week.
I have to say I’ve triumphed with this recipe. It is a beautiful, light, moist cake which you’d never know was gluten free (unless you tell) so you could serve it up for afternoon tea to your non celiac friends without a shudder. It’s also dairy and refined sugar free so is ticking so many boxes it’s unbelievable.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- Oil, for greasing the tin
- 250g gluten-free flour – I use my own blend we have created. See below. But you can just use a gluten free flour blend
- 2 tea spoon baking powder
- 2 tea spoon bicarbonate of soda
- 8 tea spoons psyllium husk
- 3 large free-range eggs
- 100g coconut sugar
- 3 ripe bananas mashed
- 125 ml olive oil
- 100g sultanas
- 100g walnuts, (optional) Omit if you have a nut allergy
I ate this both iced and un-iced. It works both ways. My H had his spread with butter but as I try to be dairy free I needed a different form of topping. Here’s what I created!
For the Ginger frosting:
- 1 small can coconut milk – straight from the fridge
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 balls stem ginger (the sort that comes in syrup but omit the syrup)
- Walnuts and crystallized ginger pieces to decorate
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Grease a loaf tin (roughly 20cm) with oil, line the base and sides with greaseproof paper.
- Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl with the sugar and oil for about 10 minutes. It will double in size and go quite pale.
- Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, psyllium husk.
- Add the banana, sultanas and walnuts to the egg mixture and fold in trying not to lose too much air.
- Add the flour into the egg mixture and then fold through again.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, then place on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for around 5 minutes, before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the icing
- Take the can of coconut milk from the fridge and remove the cream. Leave the water for drinking or adding to a smoothie.
- Blend in a nutri-bullet or high powered blender with the ginger balls and maple syrup. It should have the consistency of cream cheese and be slightly tangy.
- Once the cake has cooled, spread the icing over the cake. Lightly crush the walnuts in a pestle and mortar and chop the ginger and sprinkle on top.
Enjoy!
Ali’s Gluten Free Flour blend
I use this gluten free flour recipe for everything from thickening gravies and sauces to home baking. It’s a perfect combination which I love.
125g Brown rice flour
125g Sweet white sorghum flour
175g Tapioca flour
175g Cornflour
175g Potato starch
75g buckwheat flour
Mix all the flours together and store in an airtight container. This works really well as a plain flour. If a recipe calls for self raising flour simply add baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. I sometime add a little psyllium husk for cakes too as it helps them rise and makes them light an airy – not an accusiation you can throw at a gluten cake every day!
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