This chocolate chip banana oat flour cake is light, fluffy, naturally gluten free and can easily be made dairy free and refined sugar free. It’s the perfect healthy way to satisfy your sweet tooth and is so easy to make.
Why you’ll love this recipe & key ingredients
Oat flour is one of my favorite gluten free flours to bake with because it’s so cheap and creates perfectly fluffy desserts.
This gluten free oat flour cake has a delicious banana flavor, plenty of chocolate chips and is topped with a simple cream cheese frosting. It’s the perfect healthy dessert when you don’t want a sugar overload but still want something sweet and indulgent.
It’s a cross between banana bread and banana cake but with the additional of chocolate chips for extra flavor.
Oats, and therefore oat flour, are naturally gluten free. However, they can be easily contaminated during processing, so make sure you use a certified gluten free oat flour if baking for someone with celiac disease. Same if you make my oat flour banana bread!
To make oat flour cake, you will need oat flour, of course, plus eggs, banana, honey, sugar, oil or butter and some baking powder to help the cake rise. If you love this recipe, try my banana bread donuts or oat flour brownies next.
How to make oat flour cake
PUREE BANANA. Add your ripe bananas to a blender and blend until smooth. You can mash them, but I find the texture of the cake is best with pureed banana instead of mashed.
MIX WET. Measure out 1 cup and add to a mixing bowl with all wet ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
MIX DRY. Add in the dry ingredients, aside from the chocolate chips, making sure to spoon and level the flour. Mix until smooth, then fold in the chocolate chips.
BAKE. Transfer to your prepared pan and bake for 22-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then lift out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
MAKE FROSTING. Meanwhile, beat together the softened butter and cream cheese for 2-3 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar followed by the vanilla until smooth and creamy.
If it’s too thick, add a splash of milk, if you want it thicker, add more sugar.
SERVE. Once the cake has cooled, add the frosting on top and enjoy!
How to store and freeze
Because this oat flour cake is so moist from the banana, eggs and butter, it stores really well without drying out!
Once it’s cooled and frosted, I suggest slicing it into squares and storing either in a container with a lid, or on a plate with foil. Because the frosting has cream cheese, I suggest storing in the fridge for up to 5 days.
If you want to prep this cake in advance, you can bake it, let it cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until you’re ready to frost and serve.
Cake pan sizes
I baked this cake in an 8×8 square pan, which I recommend. This classifies it as a “snack cake” and makes it perfect for small get togethers or parties.
You can instead bake it in an 8 inch round cake pan, or double the recipe to make a traditional layer cake.
This recipe will also work as oat flour cupcakes. Follow all of the same instructions, but bake in a lined cupcake tray for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make it dairy free!
You can easily make this oat flour cake dairy free by using vegan butter in both the cake and frosting, and dairy free cream cheese in the frosting.
I do not recommend using an egg replacer for this cake, but you can instead try my vegan banana cake!
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace all purpose flour with oat flour?
Generally, I don’t recommend swapping out all purpose flour for any kind of gluten free flour. Instead, it’s best to follow a recipe that already calls for oat flour or whatever gluten free flour you want to bake with.
Substituting oat flour for cake flour or regular all purpose flour can really change both the taste and texture in a recipe, especially a cake.
Is oat flour good for cakes?
In most of my gluten free cake recipes, I stick with GF all purpose baking flour and/or almond flour. However, oat flour is good for cakes because it’s affordable and creates deliciously fluffy cakes.
Especially when combined with a bit of starch it creates a traditional cake like texture.
Can I use different sugar?
This cake uses a mix of honey, granulated sugar plus the ripe bananas to sweeten. Instead of honey, you can swap for maple syrup.
I used white sugar, but you can use coconut sugar for a refined sugar free option. Keep in mind the color of the cake will be a bit darker than pictured!
Try these gluten free cake recipes next!
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Chocolate Chip Oat Flour Cake
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet
- 1 cup banana puree from 2-3 ripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup melted butter
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup granulated sugar of choice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Dry
- 2 cups oat flour
- 2 teaspoons tapioca starch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup chocolate chips
Frosting
- ¼ cup softened butter
- 4 ounces room temperature cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
- Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add your ripe bananas to a blender and blend until smooth. You can mash them, but I find the texture of the cake is best with pureed banana instead of mashed.
- Measure out 1 cup and add to a mixing bowl with all wet ingredients.
- Mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients, aside from the chocolate chips, making sure to spoon and level the flour.
- Mix until smooth, then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer to your prepared pan and bake for 22-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then lift out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Meanwhile, beat together the softened butter and cream cheese for 2-3 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar followed by the vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- If it's too thick, add a splash of milk, if you want it thicker, add more sugar.
- Once the cake has cooled, add the frosting on top and enjoy!
Faith says
I’m not a huge fan of banana , is there maybe a substitution that I could use in its place?
Claire Cary says
You can try apple sauce, but it is more wet than banana so I can’t guarantee the result!
Angela says
Can we add peanut butter?
Claire Cary says
I don’t recommend that as it will change the proportion of wet/dry ingredients. You can try a peanut butter frosting if you want that flavor profile!
Heather Conrad says
I can’t wait to try the dairy free version of this recipe! I don’t see chocolate chips on the ingredients list. How much did you include? I hope I didn’t just miss it!
Claire Cary says
Thanks for pointing that out, I forgot to include it but it’s there now!
Valerie says
How much chocolate chips? Not listed in dry ingredients.
Claire Cary says
Sorry about that, it is there now!