With a soft texture and sweet flavor, this Banana Coffee Cake is super moist with a cinnamon sugar swirl and a flavorful crumb topping.
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Looking for a fun way to upgrade your coffee cake, or use overripe bananas for something other than banana bread?
This banana coffee cake with homemade crumb topping is perfect for a special brunch or a satisfying dessert.
Why this Recipe Works
Sweet, nostalgic, and indulgent, this coffee cake with banana is the perfect recipe for fans of comforting and fruity baked treats!
It includes a moist and tender cake, a cinnamon sugar filling, a delicious crumb topping, and an optional homemade icing that adds the right amount of sweetness that pairs with loads of banana flavor.
Serve it alongside a Corned Beef Hash with Scrambled Eggs or this Steak and Potato Breakfast Hash for the ultimate brunch or special breakfast!
Ingredients Needed
- All Purpose Flour
- Sugar: Use both white sugar and brown sugar for the perfect balance of sweetness.
- Butter: Softened butter gives the crumble a nice rich flavor.
- Cinnamon: Pairs well with the sugary sweetness and provides some warmth.
- Sour Cream: This is the secret to a nice moist coffee cake with a little bit of tangy flavor to balance out the sweetness.
- Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can
- Vanilla extract: Adds an extra dimension of sweet warmth to your cake.
- Bananas: Commonly used to make banana bread, overripe bananas are also great for making coffee cake!
- Baking Soda: Provides a nice lift to your crumb cake and prevents it from getting too dense.
- Salt
- Powdered Sugar: This is different from granulated sugar so be sure not to use the same kind!
- Milk: I like to use regular dairy milk, but you could use a non-dairy substitute if you prefer.
How to Make this Banana Crumb Coffee Cake
- Step 1: For the crumble, add the flour, sugars, butter, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
- Step 2: Combine until you have large crumbs, then store in the fridge.
- Step 3: In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients for the crumb cake (both sugars, sour cream, egg, butter, vanilla, and mashed bananas).
- Step 4: Whisk together the dry ingredients in another large bowl (flour, baking soda, and salt) and fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.
- Step 5: Spread half of the batter in an even layer in a prepared pan.
- Step 6: Evenly distribute the brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the batter.
- Step 7: Add the other half of the coffee cake batter over top.
- Step 8: Sprinkle the crumble over top of the batter.
Recipe Tips
- The riper the bananas are that you use, the sweeter the result will be.
- For some extra flavor, add other warm spices like nutmeg or pumpkin spice in the cinnamon sugar layer.
- You can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar.
- Don't overmix the batter! You may end up with a more tough or dense coffee cake. Allow refrigerated ingredients to come up to room temperature so the batter comes together more easily.
- Instead of the homemade icing, you can also dust the coffee cake with some powdered sugar.
- For a slightly lighter option, use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and coconut oil instead of butter.
Recipe FAQ's
This kind of crumb cake doesn't actually include coffee as an ingredient, but it's commonly served at brunch or even as an after-dinner treat with a cup of coffee, which is where the name comes from!
Using full-fat sour cream is a crucial component in just about any coffee cake recipe! It provides a rich and moist consistency and a unique and slightly tangy flavor.
Yes if your bananas are getting over-ripe and your're not ready to use them just yet. Place them in a ziplock freezer bag and pop them into the freezer. You can leave the peel on or off.
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Banana Crumb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the crumble
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cinnamon sugar filling
- 1 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Banana Cake
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 medium bananas mashed
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Icing-Optional
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.
For the crumble
- In a small bowl add the flour cinnamon, sugars and softened butter and mix until combined. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
For the filling
- In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
For the banana cake
- In a large bowl sugars, sour cream, egg, butter, vanilla, and mashed bananas until combined.
- Add in the flour, baking soda and salt until combined.
- Spread 1/2 of the batter into the baking pan,
- Spread the cinnamon sugar filling over the batter.
- Then spread the remaining half of the batter on top, followed by the crumb mixture.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
1 egg is needed
The recipe instructions says add egg but the ingredient list does not include eggs. I made it and used two. It’s in the oven now so we’ll see I guess.
How many are supposed to go in it?
I haven't recipe tested making it the day before, baking the cake right out of the refrigerator would definitely affect the baking time. This coffee cake stays very fresh and you could add the glaze right before taking it if you prefer.
I’m making this to take to my physical therapists on Friday morning. Can I make it the day before and refrigerate it and bake it the evening before I take it or that morning? It looks like everything that goes in. It would be OK overnight and the refrigerator let me know.
PS I made your strawberry cream muffins and took them with me today. They were great. I also comment commented on that page.
So happy you enjoyed it Gwen 🙂
You had me at banana and crumb. It's a match made in heaven. This is such an easy and delicious recipe! I will be making this again.