We’ve been a sugar-free family for a few years now. However, we still want to celebrate birthdays and other holidays. This sugar-free banana cake is the perfect solution. It is naturally fruit-sweetened and delicious.
Delicious Cake Flavors
Following the recipe below, without any changes to the flavoring, results in a cake that tastes a bit like banoffee pie. It has a strong flavor of banana with the caramel of dates and whipping cream.
However, sugar-free cakes are perfect for all sorts of occasions! Here are a few different ways to take this simple cake and turn it into your favorite celebration cake.
- Simple vanilla sheet cake: Looking for a basic vanilla cake? Add double the amount of vanilla extract and add the zest from one lemon.
- Strawberry cake: Certain types of parties call for a pretty pink cake. To make a strawberry cake, replace 1 of the bananas with 1 cup of chopped ripe strawberries. Puree the strawberries in the blender (it should come to around 1/3 to 1/2 cup), then stir them into the batter with the remaining bananas. This will result in a slightly runnier batter, so it may need to cook for an extra 10 minutes. Frost with a sugar-free strawberry cream cheese frosting.
- Chocolate cake: I love chocolate cake. To make a sugar-free chocolate cake replace 1/4 cup of flour with 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. Frost with chocolate avocado frosting.
- Banana bread: Make a sugar-free banana bread by adding 1 tsp of cinnamon along with 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. Yum! It will take longer to bake in a loaf pan, so check the cake after 35 to 45 minutes.
- Banana muffins: To bake muffins or cupcakes, simple reduce the baking time to 20 to 25 minutes.
Sugar-free banana cake
Looking for a healthy birthday cake? This sugar-free banana cake is naturally fruit-sweetened. With the date frosting, it tastes like a banoffee pie. However, it can also be flavored with chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. See the section above for more information.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 minute
- Yield: 2 x 6 inch cake pans 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Cuisine: Gluten free
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
Banana Sweetened Cake
- 4 very ripe bananas (approx. 1 1/3 cups mashed)
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup of buttermilk (milk kefir or yogurt)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 cup of flour (I use my gluten-free blend)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Date Sweetened Caramel Frosting
- 8 large Medjool dates, pits removed
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup whipping cream
Instructions
Banana Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl until relatively smooth.
- Mix in the melted butter, then the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir until everything is evenly mixed.
- Pour into two 6-inch round cake pans.
- If you are making a gluten-free cake, the texture will improve if the batter is allowed to rest for 30 minutes before baking. Otherwise, bake right away.
- Bake at 350 F for 25-35 min (until a toothpick comes out clean).
- Allow the cake to cool before frosting.
Date Frosting
- Place the dates and the water in a blender. Be sure to remove the pits!
- Pulse until the dates have turned into a smooth paste.
- Once the dates are fully pureed, add the whipping cream and continue to blend until you have a nice thick, whipped frosting.
- The frosting needs to be kept cool. I recommend either frosting the cake right before serving or storing the frosted cake in the fridge.
Notes
- Instead of making a 6-inch layer cake, this batter will also make an 8-inch square or 18 cupcakes.
- Why not make a super healthy cake by serving it with a probiotic frosting?! To make the frosting probiotic use cultured whipping cream.
Keywords: sugar free, naturally sweetened, fruit sweetened, probiotic, banoffee cake, healthy cake, kid-friendly cake, holiday, birthday, celebration
I made the Chocolate recipe for my Birthday with some minor alterations: a tablespoon or so of honey, an extra tablespoon of cocoa powder, and I used a 9″ round pan. I also used whole wheat flour and the yogurt option. Paired with the avocado-chocolate frosting (link above), it was really good.
My cake did not have the traditional flour texture and bounciness to touch; it was deliciously dense and resembled the consistency of banana bread (but less flour-like). My preference is still for lighter, less dense cakes. Also, you could taste the banana in the chocolate cake, but it by absolutely no means impaired the tastiness of it. Overall, I recommend this recipe! My family (moderate sugar lovers) really enjoyed this cake, and I was glad that it turned out well. If you are hesitating at making it, go for it. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. I want to save this recipe for later! Thank you for your post.
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Thanks for sharing!
We struggled a bit with cooking times and temperatures – we used one 8″ round tin, and at 350f the top was browning long before a toothpick would come out cleanly. Do you have any suggestions on times and temperatures?
Maybe reduce the temperature slightly? It will be banana-bread-like in color, so quite dark. Especially if you used whole grain flour.
My birthday fell during Whole30 and I used the above recipe and just replaced it with compliant ingredients (ghee instead of butter, almond flour, and almond milk with some citrus juice). I made the cupcake version. It was pretty good in its own!! I got to have a birthday treat and stay within my diet. The next day I had another one and added some fresh strawberries and OMG!! The perfect treat for a celebration!
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Wow! I haven’t tried it with just almond flour. That sounds delicious. Happy Belated Birthday!
Can this recipe be made without the eggs? Looking forward to trying this and the other flavours!
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I haven’t tried an egg-free version, but I don’t see why not! Try using egg replacer or flax eggs instead. Let me know how it works!
Absolutely loved. Making again! Made for my daughter’s birthday as cupcakes. Taste great leftover if chilled in the fridge. Frosting is superb -light creamy and slightly sweet. Thank you for sharing! This was perfect.
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Glad you liked it!
When you wrote that I can use an 8″ pan — did you mean one 8″ pan or two? (I should probably know this, but I’m brand-new to baking!) Thanks!
Nicole
Sure! One 8-inch square pan roughly equals two 6-inch round pans. Enjoy!
The cakes came out surprisingly good! I doubled the recipe, using greek yoghurt and white rice flour and a gluten free baking flour mix in 3 8” pans.
It took me a long time to even find a recipe without added sugar or other sweetener!
Thank you!
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Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi! What are your thoughts on making the cakes or cupcakes a few days ahead of time, freezing, then frosting the day of?
It should be fine, especially if you’re using GF flour (which does really well with freezing.) But even wheat should remain moist. Enjoy!
This was so good – really moist and surprisingly sweet considering there is no sugar at all. I used spelt flour and halved the recipe making just one 6 inch cake. I kept it simple and added some cinnamon and raisins. I am going to make a chocolate version next time! Thank you!
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Glad you liked it!
Hi! I’d love to use this for my daughter’s first birthday smash cake. Will the recipe change if I use 3 4 inch pans?
How fun! I have used this recipe for muffins… and decreased the baking time to 20 minutes. So keep an eye on the baking time. Enjoy!
Hi!
I am using this for my daughter’s first birthday smash cake this weekend, and using the strawberry version. When you mention 1 cup of strawberries, is this 1 cup of whole strawberries then pureed, or is it 1 cup of pureed strawberry? I feel like there is a significant difference so I wanted to ask if you’ve tried it before I did it myself. Thanks! 🙂
Good questions! It’s 1 cup chopped strawberries. Thanks for pointing this out… I’ll fix the recipe right now. Cheers!
Hi – can I use oat milk instead of buttermilk? Thanks!
S
You’ll need to adjust for the acidity of buttermilk. Other than that, it should be fine!
How would you adjust for acidity, just add some lemon juice? TIA
Yes! 1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice (or vinegar, but lemon would taste better) will give you the right acidity. Enjoy!
I made the vanilla version with mango frosting for my baby’s first bday cake smash.. he definitely loved it.
Thanks so much for the recipe !
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Yum!
Is the flour self raising or plain? Thanks!
Plain. Enjoy!
Please can you use Greek Yoghurt rather than butter milk?
Greek yogurt is quite thick. Regular yogurt is better, however, if you only have Greek yogurt then maybe add a bit of milk to add some liquid. Otherwise, the batter will be too thick. 🙂 Cupcakes should be done after 20 to 25 minutes. Enjoy!
Also, how long would you cook the recipe as cup cakes?
Hi I am planning to make this healthy cake for my son’s birthday… can I use colour in this frosting ?
Yes! The dates add a tan/brown color to the frosting, so it would probably work better with red color than blue or green. Enjoy!
The banana cake was good! My kids made it for my birthday this summer. The frosting had great flavor but came out more like a thin glaze – couldn’t get it to thicken up. it was just the right amount of sweet and flavor – just not as pretty to look at 🙂 – Jennifer
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Glad you enjoyed it! I recommend trying the frosting again. It really should thicken up as long as you use whipping cream. It won’t work with milk or light cream. Cheers!
How would I change the bake time to bake in a loaf pan? Thanks!
I think it should cook in 50 to 60 minutes. Enjoy!
I don’t know what kind of maybe artificially enhanced whipping cream is being used by the author, but the medjool dates’s natural acidity kept shrinking the 38% whipping cream into grains, ending up with a useless foam 3 times with 3 different brands of whipping creams I’ve tried. My suggestion: make layers, put the medjool water blend cream in between, and put simple whipped cream on top as frosting.
Otherwise decent recipe.
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Interesting, I have never had an issue with curdling in my whipping cream. I have only ever used whipping cream (organic and non-organic, kefir cultured and fresh). Most often, I use this brand: http://www.avalondairy.com/products-all/ It really is my go-to recipe for frosting.
I wonder if your dates are more acidic than mine? Saying that I’ve both used mass-grocery store dates (Natural Delights), as well as organic bulk buy dates (from Organic Matters).
Hum… I’m really not sure what to suggest. But I suspect it’s the dates, not the whipping cream. Glad the cake worked out for you!
I’ve made this 3 times and love it. It’s impossible to find recipes without sugar so thank you for this great recipe! How many cups of mashed banana should be used? I must not have had enough banana in my last cake because it was more dense and less moist than the previous cakes.
Glad you like the cake! What a good idea to offer measurement in cups. 4 mashed bananas is about 1 1/3 cups. 🙂 I’ll add it to the recipe now!
Helloo,
I’m planning on making this recipe for my godsons 1st birthday. I’m wondering if I want to use 2 9” cake tins, do I double or triple the recipe? Many thanks x
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