Foods Birthday parties for the little people can be challenging when you’re grain-free and you’re trying to limit your kids’ refined sugar intake. They aren’t quite so challenging, though, when you have a delicious cake any kid would love—like this grain-free banana cake with peanut butter frosting!
Looking for more gluten-free recipes and resources? This Everything Gluten Free page is a library of everything gluten free we’ve worked on.
I’m going to be honest here. My kids sometimes have refined sugar. They sometimes have french fries. They sometimes go to grandma’s and get WAY too much refined sugar.
It’s life. We have to do as well as we can. Our family is on our journey towards healthier eating and living, but we haven’t arrived to the pinnacle yet.
In the past couple of years since my kids have gone gluten-free, for birthdays, I’ve usually splurged and purchased boxed cake mixes (you can wipe that look of horror of your face now). Yes, I purchased boxed cake mixes that are totally devoid of nutritional value and packed full of sugar. It was a way to help my kids not feel quite so weird. It was a transitional crutch for special occasions.
One year, for Cameron’s 6th birthday, I decided to ditch the boxed mix. I attempted to remake one of their favorites: banana cake with peanut butter frosting. This cake is totally grain-free and also free of refined sugar and dairy.
And oh…the frosting is just heavenly!
Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Equipment
- 8 or 9 inch round cake pans
- Parchment Paper
- Mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup raw honey
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 Tablespoons vanilla
- 4 ripe bananas mashed
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca or arrowroot flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Frosting
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 3/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter no additives!
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans well with coconut oil. Cut out circles of parchment paper and place on the bottom of the cake pans.
- Mix all wet ingredients together: melted coconut oil, eggs, honey, coconut milk, vanilla, and bananas.
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl: almond flour, tapioca or arrowroot flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Blend the two mixtures together, just until thoroughly combined.
- Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 38-42 minutes.
- While the cake is baking prepare the frosting.
- Beat coconut oil and peanut butter on high until smooth and creamy.
- Add honey, vanilla extract and salt and beat on medium speed until everything is well combined.
- Place the frosting in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
- Beat the chilled frosting on high until frosting is thick and fluffy.
- Frost the cake once it is completely cool!
Notes
Nutrition
So, how did this grain-free banana cake with peanut butter frosting turn out? There sure weren’t any complaints and every last morsel was eaten! Try it out. Tell me how you like it! 🙂
More Gluten-Free Cake Recipes:
- Grain-Free Brown Butter Spice Cake
- Grain-Free Coconut Key Lime Cake
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Gluten-Free Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake
I will definrtely be trying this recipe! I have a bunch of bananas that should get used and this will be the perfect thing to try!
Be sure to stop back and let me know how you enjoyed it 🙂
We had this cake warm out of the oven tonight for dinner! I baked it in a 9 by 13 pan, and I did not put the frosting on since I used the last of my honey in the cake. Anyway, the cake was absolutely delicious! I have a feeling I will be making this again! I imagine the frosting would add an extra touch and I want to try that sometime. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! We like it straight out of the oven too, but we think the flavors get even better when you let it sit overnight! And yes, you’ll have to try it with the peanut butter frosting sometime. It’s delish!
OMG! When I saw this on DDT I thought.. I’ll just check it out but I’m sure it’s not something I can eat (grain free, dairy free, etc) but it IS it IS and I AM SO EXCITED to try this!!
I sure hope you enjoy it 🙂
Looks Y.U.M. My crutch is my gluten free flours that make stuff taste almost normal. I need to keep on moving forward and baking more with the grain free flour blends. Thanks for the encouragement.
Thanks for the kid comment Sarah! I love experimenting in the kitchen, just wish I had more time to do it 🙂
Can you sub maple syrup for some of the raw honey? Raw honey is so expensive
I’ve not tried it, but my guess is it would probably work. You’ll get a slightly different flavor, but I think it would turn out good. If you try it, be sure to stop back and let me know how it turns out! 🙂
This cake looks amazing! I would love to try making it for my son’s birthday this coming Saturday. He’s allergic to eggs though. Has anyone tried making this cake with an egg replacement. I usually use 1 Tbsp of chia seeds to 3 Tbsp of water for 1 egg. In this recipe, I’d have to do 6 Tbsp of chia seeds to 18 Tbsp of water. Wondering if the cake would turn out. I’d love some ideas. Thank you in advance! 🙂
I’ve not tried doing this with chia seeds. I have also used that replacement in the past with mixed results. Please let me know how it turns out if you do try it out with the chia egg replacement. Would love to let other know whether or not it works!
I would need to get my slice first, there would not be one slice left here at The Cottage. Thanks so much for sharing your delicious cake with Full Plate Thursday this week. Hope you have a great weekend and come back soon!
Miz Helen
It doesn’t last long here in our home, that’s for sure! Thanks so much for stopping by Miz Helen. Have a great weekend!
This looks so yummy!! Thank you for sharing with Friday Favorites, we love having you join us!
I have a kiddo allergic to almonds so almond flour is a no-go for us. Could a GF flour work just fine? Would I have to subsitute just the almond flour and arrowroot/tapioca (I’m assuming it’s for binding?). Most ready to use Gf flours have the binding ingredient.
Thank you! It looks scrumptious!
You could certainly try it! I would imagine it would come out fine, but I can’t guarantee it since we haven’t tried it. Do come back and let us know how it turns out if you try it 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I’ve made this two times so far. Once as a sheet cake and the last time as two 9″ rounds. My entire family from toddler to husband loves it! I gave my hubby pieces to bring into work the first time I made it and ppl are still talking about ! I rarely leave comments or reviews but this cake was so so wonderful I had to thank you for recipe and share the awesomeness! 🙂
Awesome! I’m so excited to hear that you and those you’ve shared it with enjoyed the cake. And I really, really appreciate that you came back and left a comment. 🙂
My son and I just made this. We decorated it with banana slices and sprinkled Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips on top. Yum! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! Hope you all enjoyed eating it too 🙂
I haven’t tried it yet but just looking at it deserves 5 stars. I was wondering if you have ever experimented with making it into cupcakes? Or possibly in mini ramekins for individual servings?
Thank you for your cooking talent! Rhonda
I tried this recipe today and made it into cup cakes. They turned out really good. I would like to know what size banana’s you used, it makes a difference whether they are sm, med ,or lg. I used 31/2 large and added an extra 1/2 C coconut flour.
The frosting recipe did not turn out, it’s so runny. I used organic peanut butter that has the oil in it (no added palm oil or such) so it was runny to start, I cut the oil to 1/2 c. by the time added the honey I knew it wasn’t going to work.
How did you get yours so thick? Even if I used peanut butte with the natural oil removed, it wouldn’t be as thick as what I see in your photo.
Any ideas on how to thicken this up?
TY!