My twins turned five last week and my daughter requested a princess castle banana cake with cream cheese frosting. How could I say no? Thankfully, her twin brother thought that was an excellent idea so I narrowly escaped making two cakes this year. I made the banana cake gluten free by using an all-purpose flour from the Gluten Free Pantry – I have purchased this at Whole Foods and Earth Fare. My friend had made a monkey cake for her daughter’s 2nd birthday using the banana cake recipe from www.momswhothink.com (http://www.momswhothink.com/cake-recipes/banana-cake-recipe.html) I replaced the sifted flour with the gluten free flour and it really needed no other adjustments. The Gluten Free Pantry flour is really great – it is pricey but it makes delicious baked goods!
Banana Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 large eggs, beaten
2 cups GF all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, pureed in mixer
3/4 teaspoon baking soda, added to bananas
I used a princess castle cake pan purchased at Michael’s – but you could also use 2 nine inch pans. Spray pan with cooking spray.
Puree bananas, add baking soda and set aside.
After setting aside bananas, cream softened butter, sugar, and eggs.
In separate bowl, add salt and baking powder to the flour.
Add the milk and flour to the creamed butter and eggs – alternating with the flour and milk – end with the last bit of flour.
Add vanilla and pureed bananas. Mix.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 to 50 minutes. Two nine inch pans would probably take about 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 tablespoons butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 box powdered sugar (about 1 pound)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix cream cheese and butter in a large mixer. Add sugar and vanilla – blend well until there are no more sugar lumps. I separated the frosting into three containers and dyed one part pink, one part purple and left one part white. The kids loved their princess castle cake and no one guessed that it was even gluten free!!
