This weekend my cousin’s son Luca turned 8, which I can’t believe because I was there when he was born and it seems like it was 5 minutes ago. Anyway, I love making kids birthday cakes. I also love eating them, which has gotten a little complicated since I stopped eating wheat for a while. But: this recipe is so awesome that EVERYONE loves it and nobody cares that it is gluten-free. And it’s super easy. (And, with a couple of modifications, it makes the best gluten free banana bread.) Here’s what you need for a tall two-layer 8- or 9- inch wide cake, or in my case, a Number 8 cake made of two layers with holes cut in the centers.
Two-layer GF Banana Birthday Cake
For the cake:
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup avocado or vegetable oil
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups mashed ripe banana
1 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups GF flour mix. (Use King Arthur Pamela’s or Cup 4 Cup. DO NOT USE: Namaste, Pillsbury, Bob’s Red Mill or anything else with bean or pea flour.)
1 tablespoon baking soda
One teaspoon salt
Cream cheese frosting:
1 8-ounce package full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick salted butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
(Modifications for epic GF banana bread: For one large loaf of banana bread, cut the recipe in half and use only two eggs.)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350º. (If you are using cream cheese frosting, make sure you take the butter and cream cheese out of the fridge so it can soften.)
Spray two 8- or 9- inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Trace your cake pans on a piece of parchment. Cut out the circles of paper and use them to line the bottoms of the pans. This seems annoying but will save you trouble, trust me.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, soda and salt. With an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs, banana, sour cream and vanilla. Beat until fluffy. Shake in the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Let it sit for about 5 minutes while the soda reacts, then you pour it into the baking pans, dividing it evenly. (A kitchen scale can help with this.) Put it in the oven. Set the timer for 65 minutes. GF cake is dense and takes a little extra time to cook. When it’s done, the cake should be should be brown and spring back. Just to be double-sure, prick it with a toothpick as well, right in the highest point. The toothpick should be clean. It may need a few minutes more. Once you are sure it is done, turn the hot pans of cake gently upside down on a wire cooling rack, remove the pans and let cool.
Meanwhile: make the frosting. In a deep bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Incorporate the sugar a 1/2 cup at a time and then drizzle in milk and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes until smooth an airy. The cake must be totally cool before you frost it. It’s harder to frost if you refrigerate the frosting.
Tricks for an 8-shaped cake: Prepare your cake plate (I used a foil-covered sheet pan turned upside down.) Once the cake is cool, set the pieces on a cutting board and use a serrated knife to carefully level out the top of the cake rounds. Then turn the cake pieces cut-side down. Set a wide mouth glass or mug in the center of each round and carefully cut around it with a long, sharp knife. If crumbs bug you when you are frosting, run a thin layer of frosting over the cut sides of the new holes and put the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes. When you take it out, the whole cake will be easier to frost. When you are ready to build the cake, place a four tablespoonfuls of frosting on you prepared cake plate in four places where you think the edges of the number 8 will be, they will act as a glue to keep your cake in place. Arrange the two circles on the cake plate, frost and sprinkle. If you want to have sprinkles on the top of the cake only, make a shield out of parchment paper and use it keep the sprinkles off the sides as you carefully sprinkle the top.