We’ve been a sugar-free family for a few years now. And we’re at the point where sweet things no longer taste good. 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.
5 Delicious Cake Flavours
Following the recipe below, without any changes to the flavouring, results in a cake that tastes a bit like banoffee pie. It has a strong flavour 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 favourite celebration cake.
- Simple vanilla sheet cake: Looking for a basic vanilla cake? Add double the amount of vanilla extract along with the zest from one lemon.
- Banana bread: Make a sugar-free banana bread by adding 1 tsp of cinnamon along with 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. Yum!
- 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.
Sugar-free banana cake
Looking for a healthy birthday cake? This sugar-free banana cake is naturally fruit sweetened. As is, it tastes like a banoffee pie, however, it can also be flavoured 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
- 1 3/4 cup of flour (I use my gluten-free blend)
- 1/2 cup of buttermilk (milk kefir or yogurt)
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 4 very ripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 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″ cake pans.
- If you are making a gluten-free cake, the texture will improve if the batter is allowed to rest for 30 minutes prior to 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. If you aren’t using Medjool dates, then you may need to add more water to get the dates to blend nicely.
- 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″ layer cake, this batter will also make an 8″ 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!
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!
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 !
★★★★★
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!