The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Welcome! What’s for Dinner Wednesday is usually a carnival of gluten free dinner ideas. This week, we’re doing a dessert edition, but you might still find a dinner idea or two.  If you haven’t participated before, you can read the guidelines here.

First, let me apologize for some confusion last week. Many of you apparently thought having breakfast for dinner was the theme for the week. I didn’t intend it to be a theme, it was just my idea for the week, but I enjoyed everyone’s ideas. When there is a theme, I will give you at least a week’s notice, and the theme is always a suggestion, not a requirement.

Soon after I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I found a gluten free banana cake recipe on the Internet which quickly became a family favorite. You can now find the recipe here. As my repertoire of baked goods increased, I made it less often, but it remains a favorite.

Until this week, I hadn’t made it in a while, but after being away for several days, I had a few bananas that were perfect for use in a cake. The problem was that my frig was rather bare and I didn’t have any sour cream. I was determined to to make it without a trip to the store, so I began to think of substitutes.

I was out of yogurt, and thought I might be stuck until I remembered that this chocolate cake recipe uses mayonnaise. I ended up subbing the mayo for the sour cream and also making a few other changes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was as good as ever, if not better. This cake is soft and moist and has plenty of banana flavor.

Gluten-Free Banana Cake

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. mashed banana
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 c. mayonnaise (I used Kraft reduce fat w/olive oil)
• 2 c. gluten free flour mix (I used Carol’s sorghum blend)
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions

Using a mixer, cream together the butter, oil, and sugar.  Add the eggs, banana, and vanilla, mixing well. Add the mayonnaise and mix. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, then add, mixing until thoroughly incorporated.

Spread the batter in a 9 x 13 inch pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 35 minutes. Cool in the pan, or turn onto a rack if desired.

This cake is good with a cream cheese or vanilla frosting. It’s also great without any. This time I used a simple vanilla glaze.

Note: I’m sure there are many ways to mash bananas, but my favorite is to put them in a small bowl and use a pastry blender to mash them.

Please add a link to your gluten free dessert (or dinner) idea.

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Labels: cake, dessert recipes, What's for Dinner Wednesday

# posted by Linda @ 7/07/2009