Gluten Free Lemony Banana Bread

Monday 19 October 2015





















The recipe for this banana bread is scrawled down on a scrap of paper and kept in a drawer in the kitchen along with another couple of favourite recipes and various packets of tea.  I’ve made this often over the past couple of years but never quite got round to writing it up here.  The recipe has evolved quite a bit over time.  With a demanding one year old to look after I’ve now commandeered my husband to help whenever we feel a need for cake, which is quite often.  Of course I give him all the rubbish jobs like beating the eggs and mashing the bananas.  Does anyone else share my aversion to over ripe bananas?  The smell is overwhelmingly repugnant but thankfully the magic of baking transforms the bananas once in cake form.  I always find banana bread comforting but this version with its bursts of melted chocolate mixed with the bright notes of lemon has become my favourite.  Yesterday we headed out to the park with warm banana cake stashed in my pocket and I snapped a couple of photos of the beautiful colourful autumnal leaves before they disappear. 






















Recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Notes: The original recipe uses a glaze made with icing sugar.  This looks so delicious but since we rarely have icing sugar on hand I tend not to go to the effort.
Cake
200g rice flour
65g ground almonds
125g Demerara sugar
¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
115g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids) cut into chunks
80ml extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
3 ripe bananas mashed
60ml plain natural yoghurt, full fat
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze
Juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
Directions for the cake:
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4, 180°C, 350°F
Line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
In a large bowl combine the flour, almonds, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and chocolate.
In another bowl combine beaten eggs, olive oil, mashed bananas, yoghurt, lemon zest and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine until no flour is present.  Pour into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool in the pan for ten minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely.
For the glaze:
Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan.  Heat on low until the sugar has dissolved.  Once cooled prick holes in the top of the cake and trickle the glaze over.