Banana Rum Caramel Cake is a gluten-free sour cream bundt cake, spiked with rum. The whole cake is drizzled with a buttery rum caramel and sprinkled with banana chips for crunch.
I love to talk about how gluten-free flours are not a hindrance to a good cake experience but can enhance it by the right choice of flour. Here is another example of a gluten-free flour being as important as the other ingredients in contributing to the amazing layers of flavour going on in this seemingly simple bundt cake.
Gluten-Free Flours
- Sorghum flour is a natural fit for banana cake. Its mild earthy sweetness is the perfect balance of flavour here and pairs beautifully with the banana and rum. It is also a light fluffy flour so gives a lovely texture. Like all gluten-free flours it loves to keep the company of other flours, too much attention and you’ll suddenly notice its slightly grainy, crumbly quality.
- White rice flour is used here for neutrality and filler
- Tapioca flour is used for binding and texture.
Pro Tip – Mashed banana is used for extra binding power so we can keep our tapioca to a minimum. The banana also helps to mask any potential grittiness so the cake is outstandingly moist yet fluffy.
I have a soft spot for a good rum cake and will never forget an old work colleague bringing a tin of rum cake to the office after his holiday to the Caribbean and I was instantly hooked. He even let me keep the tin that the cake came in. I’m pretty sure my reputation as the crazy cake lady was in full effect around the office at that time. I never really found a plain rum cake recipe which lived up to that but instead I developed this recipe around a lovely banana pound cake which I was making at the time and it has been my go-to rum cake ever since.
I say ever since but I haven’t tasted this cake in a few year as my original recipe used wheat flour and it has taken me a long long time to get the gluten-free version exactly how I wanted it to be. It’s here though and I’m as in love as ever with the final result. I have made it a couple of times this week and it feels like an old friend has come back into my life.
How to Make Banana Rum Caramel Cake
The first layer of flavour is the zesty lime which is whisked into the sugar to infuse the cake at its core. The overripe bananas give huge depth, the sorghum flour adds its own personality and the rich vanilla extract, fruity rum and tangy sour cream all work in perfect harmony to create the flavour of this glorious cake.
Homemade Rum Caramel
The final cake is drizzled with a rum caramel drip. Homemade caramel is so easy to make but intimidates many. It is only a ten minute job but does require a bit of concentration. I have burnt more sugar than I care to imagine through over confidence, answering the phone, starting to unload the dishwasher. You do need to stand over the saucepan, watching the sugar melt and giving the pan the odd shake of encouragement but as soon as it has melted you only need to add your cream, butter (and in this instance rum) and then you have your buttery rich sweet caramel. The rum makes it all the more special.
If you like this cake then you may like…
Salted Caramel Chocolate Espresso Cake
Easiest Gluten-Free Banana Bread
If you make this Banana Rum Caramel Cake then please leave a comment below and/or give the recipe a rating. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own baking creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me on Instagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.
Banana Rum Caramel Cake {gluten-free}
Ingredients
- 450 g caster sugar
- zest of 2 limes
- 300 g unsalted butter cubed, at room temperature
- 240 g ripe bananas peeled and roughly mashed, about 3
- 4 eggs
- 160 g white rice flour
- 160 g sorghum flour
- 80 g tapioca flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 80 g sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 60 ml dark rum
Rum Caramel
- 125 g caster sugar
- 150 ml double cream
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- ¼ teaspoon pinch of salt
- 30 g banana chips roughly chopped
Equipment
- 10 cup/2.4 litre bundt tin
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160 fan/ gas mark 4. Grease and lightly dust with flour a 10 cup/2.4 litre bundt tin.
- Place the sugar and lime zest in a mixer and blend together for a few minutes until the zest is evenly dispersed and a citrusy fragrance fills your kitchen.
- Drop the butter into the mixer cube by cube, it will gradually cream together with your citrus sugar. When it’s all incorporated beat on a high speed for a few minutes until it’s very light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time until they are thoroughly incorporated.
- Add the banana into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix together, scraping down the sides of the mixer so it is all completely mixed in.
- Whisk the flours together in a separate bowl along with the baking powder and salt and set aside.
- Stir the sour cream, vanilla and rum together in a small jug.
- Add the flours and sour cream mixture alternately into the rest of the cake batter in the mixer. Start with the flour, then the sour cream. The flour should be added in three additions, the sour cream in two and mix until just incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the bundt tin, smoothing the surface.
- Bake for around 60 minutes or until an inserted cocktail stick comes out of the cake clean. If the cake is browning a little too much on top halfway through the bake, dome a piece of foil over the top loosely to protect it.
- Remove the cake from the oven, leave to settle for five minutes then loosen the top edges of the cake from the tin with a small palette knife as those are the bits that tend to stick. Turn the tin upside down onto a cooling rack and remove.
- Leave the cake to cool completely on the cooling rack.
Rum Caramel
- Tip the caster sugar into a small saucepan and heat on a medium temperature until the sugar melts. Do not touch with a spoon but you can encourage the melting by swirling the actual saucepan around occasionally if you like.
- Carefully stir in the double cream and butter once the sugar has melted. The caramel may harden slightly but just keep on stirring the bubbly mixture until the cream, butter and sugar are smooth and liquid.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the rum and salt.
- Pour into a heatproof bowl and chill for a couple of hours until the caramel has thickened up slightly. If the caramel is too thick to pour then stir gently over heat to melt it a little.
- Spoon the caramel evenly over the top of the cake then sprinkle over the banana chips.
Nutrition
SHOP THE RECIPE
For this cake I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Whole Grain Sorghum Flour 500 g (Pack of 4)
which is very easy to get hold of at a lot of organic, health food shops or Ocado and of course Amazon.
I used Freee by Doves Farm Gluten Free Rice Flour 1kg (Pack of 5)
which is also very easy to get hold of and can be found in most major supermarkets in the gluten-free aisle.
The tapioca flour I used is again Bob’s Red Mill GF Tapioca Flour 500 g (Pack of 2)
as it’s a lovely quality flour and it’s good value through Amazon.
I treated myself recently to this Nordic Ware 85777 Brilliance Bundt Pan
and it’s as wonderful as my other Nordicware bundt tins. If you lightly grease it and dust with a bit of flour, tapping out the excess before adding your cake batter then you will have no trouble removing your cake. It’s so satisfying to see that beautiful pattern once the cake has turned out successfully.
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Hello, so lovely of you to drop by. I am Georgina. I bake a lot, eat a lot and love writing about my gluten-free kitchen adventures here. I run a gluten-free cake business and have a stall at the local farmer’s market selling my cakes and preserves. I have 2 cats, 1 dog, 1 husband, a delightful toddler who runs me ragged and a newborn baby boy.
