Bubby Fran’s famous banana cake

RonniLyn Recipes we ♥︎ Tummy love September 17, 2013 | 0

This is Lily, BC (before celiac), chillin’ with my Bubby Fran. Find someone who looks at you the way Lily looks at her great Bubby.

Bubby had a way with babies. After five children and 10 grandkids, she was a real natural.

When it came to her role as great grandmother, Fran never phoned it in. She approached baking in the same way. You could taste the love in her cakes.

This is Bub's banana chocolate chip cake.

This is Bub’s famous banana chocolate chip cake—gluten-free style!

You might be thinking, “gluten-free banana cake, a dime a dozen.” Google it, and 9,990,000 recipes pop up on your screen.

Not this banana cake. I’ve perfected a gluten-free version of my Bubby Fran’s famous banana chocolate chip cake. It’s super moist (even on day two!) and full of flavour, with the same taste and texture as my Bub’s cake. Fresh out of the oven, you would NEVER know it’s gluten free (be careful not to devour the entire thing). Not only have my dad, aunts and uncle come back for seconds, they’ve also given me permission to share this beloved, slightly tweaked family recipe with you.

For the gluten-free makeover, I follow my Bubby’s recipe to a T, substituting either Cup4Cup Multipurpose Gluten-Free Flour or Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, depending on what’s in the cupboard. It might also work with other gluten-free flour blends but I’ve only tried it with these so far. The other key difference is I don’t bake it for as long as the original recipe called for.

It may not be the healthiest banana cake recipe around, and I’m not claiming it is. There are plenty of those out there—go ahead, google it. But this is my Bubby’s banana chocolate chip cake, gluten-free style. And Lily gets to enjoy it, the same banana cake that I grew up on. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Bubby Fran’s Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

½ cup Crisco all-vegetable shortening (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp pure vanilla
4 tbsp sour cream (full fat)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1¾ cup flour (sifted; I used Bob’s Red Mill One-to-One GF flour)
¾ cup chocolate chips (but who’s counting?)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Lightly grease a cake pan. (I use a round bundt pan because my Bubby did but I’ve also made it in a loaf pan and muffin tin.)

With a hand mixer, mix together Crisco and sugar. Add eggs, then bananas, vanilla and sour cream, and beat to combine.

Mix together all dry ingredients, then fold them into the batter and stir. Add chocolate chips. Bake for about 40 minutes (use a cake tester to make sure the inside is fully baked).

You’re welcome! Let me know how it turns out!