Gluten Free Banana Cake… Happy Easter!

Gluten Free Banana Cake with Teff Flour for Easter

Happy Easter!  I hope you have enjoyed this beautiful weekend with family and friends.  Things were so busy around here that I did not get to making those yummy marshmallow peeps that we had done last year… but I did manage to make the marshmallows!  You see them in the picture next to the GF Banana Cake as I cut them into cubes and sprinkled unsweetened coconut flakes on top of them.  If you need that recipe again, just follow the link to Z’s Cup of Tea.

I was hoping for a light cake for the finale of our Easter dinner that everyone could enjoy… and I mean everyone!  So, it had to be gluten free, refined sugar free, egg free, dairy free, nut free and use only Teff and Tapioca Starch flours.  Yikes… Sometimes baking in this house gets tedious!!  However, this cake came together so easily that I had to share it.  I would make it again and again given that we have ripe bananas on hand.

Gluten Free Banana Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups brown Teff flour
• 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch flour
• 2 Tbls ground flax seeds
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut milk

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cake pan or square baking dish with parchment, taking care to oil the sides of the pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the rest of the wet ingredients with the mashed bananas and coconut sugar.  Begin with 1/4 cup coconut milk, reserving the rest.
4. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides.  Then turn the mixer on medium high for a minute.  The batter should resemble cake batter and not be too stiff.  If it is too stiff, slowly add the additional 1/4 cup coconut milk.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top with a spatula.  Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes.
6. The cake should have a light spring back when you touch the top when it is done.  Remove from the oven and cool completely before serving.

We served this cake with mango sauce and homemade agave sweetened marshmallows.  The mango sauce is easy to make:  Blend 1 cup of ripe mango in a food processor until pureed, then drizzle in 2 Tbls melted coconut oil with the processor running at the end.  Chill before serving.  It is a great snacking type of cake, light and not too sweet.  If you are able to have refined sugar, a dusting of powdered sugar would be great on top.

Ivory Teff Banana Cake

UPDATE 12/30/12:  We have just made a great pan of banana cake using Ivory Teff Flour from The Teff Co.  I used 1 cup Ivory Teff flour, 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour (you could also use Quinoa flour), and 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch flour as my flour blend.  It was very moist and flavorful!

Happy Easter!  I hope you enjoy some of our silly, rather “minion-like”, egg decorations!!