Gluten-Free Sour Cream Coconut Banana Cake

Baking with Dorie

The Challenge: Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake

If there was one baked good where variety didn’t appeal to me, it was banana bread. Prior to this week’s Baking with Dorie challenge, the only banana bread I really liked was my mom’s recipe. For me, her version was the ne plus ultra of banana bread. I loved it so much, I converted the recipe to gluten-free for my cookbook. I really never had any desire to try another recipe. Banana bread and me? The very definition of “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”


This week’s Baking with Dorie challenge pulled me out of my banana bread comfort zone. The selected recipe was Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake. After skimming Dorie’s recipe, I was reminded that there really isn’t much of a difference between banana bread and banana cake. It’s sort of like the difference between a cupcake and a muffin– icing! Also, banana bread is usually baked in a 9x5 loaf pan; banana cake in two rounds or a 9x13. While Dorie calls this recipe a “cake”, I came to think of it as a bread because I decided not to ice it.

And deciding not to ice it would be just fine with Dorie. The recipe doesn’t include the phrase Lots-of-Ways for nothing. Throughout the recipe Dorie notes that substitutions are welcome. Don’t have brown sugar? Use granulated! Can’t find coconut milk? Use milk or sour cream or yogurt. You get the point; this recipe can be altered to suit your tastes—or whatever you have in the pantry.

After glancing at the recipe, I was intrigued that coconut was one of the ingredients. Coconut plus bananas? Yum! In addition to sweetened coconut, Dorie suggests that unsweetened coconut milk can be used in the recipe. Well, I didn’t have coconut milk on hand. Okay, that’s not true. I did have coconut milk in the fridge. I also had mold in my coconut milk. Down the drain it went. Since my coconut milk was spoiled, I decided to use sour cream. My version of Dorie’s Cake ended up being a Sour Cream Banana Coconut Cake. Even I had to admit, it sounded pretty good.

I used a combination of white rice flour, cornstarch and sweet rice flour in the recipe. The thick and creamy batter was gorgeous! Since I didn’t want to ice the cake, I decided to bake it in a 9x13 inch cake pan because I love sheet cakes. There is just something wonderful about a cake you can leave in the pan, on the counter, and let folks lob themselves off a slice when they feel like it.


Out of the oven came a beautiful cake. I couldn’t wait to try it. After snapping a few pictures, it was finally time for me to try a new banana cake! And, as you might have guessed, I loved it! The coconut and spices combined with banana is just perfect! The texture of the cake is really moist without being gummy. There is only one problem, which recipe will I make in the future with my overripe bananas? Dorie's or my mom's recipe? Hmm...

PS Be sure to take a look at what Susie and Grapefruit baked up for this week's challenge.

Sour Cream Banana Coconut Cake
adapted from a recipe by Dorie Greenspan

Dry Ingredients

1 2/3 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup cornstarach

1/2 cup sweet rice

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

Wet Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (About 4 very ripe bananas)

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup sweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13-pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl), cream together butter and sugars. Use medium-high speed.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, and cream until thoroughly combined.
5. Add vanilla extract and bananas. Blend to combine. The mixture will curdle. Don’t worry. This is fine.
6. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Blend until thoroughly incorporated. Add 1/2 the sour cream, mix well. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients and sour cream. After the last addition of the sour cream, blend batter for 30 seconds.
7. Add coconut and mix just to combine.
8. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. (This cake is also yummy served warm!)

Makes 1 9x13 inch cake