Banana, Vanilla & Pecan Nut Cake

We had been looking for a reliable, light, flavoursome cake for ages but couldn’t find one. So we formulated this stunning recipe out of the contents of the store cupboard. It is made with gluten-free flour and ground almonds, but the really special thing is the flavour of banana coupled with vanilla and pecan nuts. It tastes gorgeous fresh out of the oven and the texture is perfect: light and fluffy.
Serves
Serves 8
Total Time
1 Hour 5 Minutes
Ingredients
For The Cake
125g of soft unsalted butter, plus more for the tin
125g of soft brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
75g of plain white gluten-free flour
¾ tsp of baking powder
75 g of ground almonds (almond flour)
2 small ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp of vanilla extract
60g of pecan nut pieces
For The Icing
100g of white chocolate, broken into pieces
350g of icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1½ tbsp of unsalted butter
½ tsp of vanilla extract
A little lactose-free milk, if needed
To Decorate
30g of pecan nuts, dry roasted in a pan
Method
Step 1

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Butter and line a small loaf tin measuring 20 x 10 cm/8 x 4 in with silicone baking paper or a cake liner.

Step 2

Beat the butter and brown sugar together until paler and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs a little at a time.

Step 3

Sift together the flour and baking powder, and fold these into the butter mixture. Fold in the ground almonds, bananas, vanilla and pecan nuts. Spoon into the prepared tin.

Step 4

Bake the cake for 50 minutes. To see if it is done, insert a skewer into the centre; it should come out clean. Remove from the tin and place on a cooling rack.

Step 5

For the icing, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave to cool slightly. Beat the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and white chocolate together until you have a thick icing. (Add a little milk if you need to loosen the icing.) Spread over the banana cake and decorate with toasted pecan nuts.

Extract credit to Cooking for the Sensitive Gut by Dr Joan Ransley & Dr Nick Read, published by Pavilion Books. Image credit to Joan Ransley.

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