Banana Sheet Cake

My family loves this cake, and this week I had a request for it from someone outside my family, so I’ve decided you might enjoy it too. I usually make this in a 12 x 18 x 1 inch pan, but I’m also following up with measurements for a 10 x 15 x 1 inch pan.

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2-1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1-1/2 sour cream
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium overripe bananas, mashed (about 1-1/2 cup)

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, then stir in the bananas.

Spread batter into a greased 18 x 12 x 1 inch pan. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool and frost (see recipe below). Cut into squares. (I usually do 24 pieces, but you could cut 36 without anyone complaining that you’re stingy.)

Frosting:

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3-3/4 to 4 cups icing (confectioners’) sugar

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Gradually beat in the icing sugar.

For 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 medium overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)

Use the same measurements listed for larger cake above for the frosting. Thicker frosting never killed anyone.

Comments

[Becky, Christ's slave]

This looks yummy. I will have to try it gluten free. It won't be the same, but I think it will transfer okay and be good.

[rebecca]

What do you change up to make it gluten free?

[Becky, Christ's slave]

For this recipe the potential problems are the vanilla, sour cream and flour (though almost any product can be cross contaminated if it is produced in a facility where gluten is used). Vanilla does not naturally have gluten in it, but some vanillas that you buy do have, either because of additives, such as artificial flavorings or colorings (a derivative of wheat is often used for carmel coloring), some vanillas do have. The most recent brand I purchased was from Costco and it says gluten free right on the label. Costco is getting lots of gf products.

Most sour cream is okay for the same reason vanilla should be, it is naturally gluten free; however, some have gluten in them. Most sour creams you buy have additives, but many brands use corn rather than a gluten product. I have a friend who can't have corn either and she uses Daisy brand, as it is the only one on the shelves in the markets around here that is actually 100% pure sour cream. It is more expensive of course.

The flour is the main ingredient that is a concern. The great thing is that there are a lot of gluten free flours available. For this recipe, I will use Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour. It has garbanzo flour, potato starch and tapioca flour. I will also add xanthan gum as a binder, an essential ingredient in a gf bread/cake recipe.

There are a lot of other flours also (see http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-flours-meals/). I like to grind whole quinoa in a coffee grinder and I also like to do that with raw almonds. Fresh is best. Whole grains and nuts lasts much longer than a flour.

Bob's has certified gluten-free oats, but I can't tolerate them. Some professionals say oats have gluten in them, others don't agree. When they are certified, it means they have not been exposed to wheat, rye or barley at all, from field to factory. Cross contamination is a huge problem.

A friend has discovered that if you use half cornstarch and half rice flour, the results are much more like gluteny flour. I will try that with the Bob's All Purpose for the banana cake. What is nice about a recipe like this is that for some reason when you add bananas, or zucchini or carrots, etc., the baked good really tastes great and you don't miss the gluten so much. I will let you know how it goes. If you would like to learn more about this gluten-free life, you can start at my other blog, <http://glutenfreesleuth.blogspot.com>. I have a lot of links on there to people who know a lot more than I do about all of this.

(Careful. When you ask me a question, I will usually answer with several chapters.)

[rebecca]

Wow! It's complicated. I'm allergic to corn, and yes, it's in a whole lot of things it shouldn't be, like sour cream. I didn't know that cross contamination was such a problem.

Let me know how the cake turns out.

[Becky, Christ's slave]

You couldn't eat my adapted version, because I used cornstarch. I think it would work with just brown rice flour and xanthan gum, but the cornstarch improves the texture a lot. Anyway, I finally made it today...yesterday...and it turned out so wonderful. You can read all about it here:
<http://glutenfreesleuth.blogspot.com/2009/10/banana-sheet-cakedeglutened.html>

:) Thank you!