I have been DYING to tell you guys about today’s recipe.
This Roasted Banana Bread Coffee Cake is INSANE. The flavor here is just…bonkers. The textures are so good I could scream. My family devoured this entire thing in a matter of days – even my husband, who is not really a fan of banana baked goods.
I have made regular banana bread a couple times now with roasted bananas, and it is a game changer when it comes to the level of banana flavor you get.
Roasting the bananas is so simple, but it does something quite magical. It softens them and sweetens them up so much that they taste and smell caramely. It reminds me of bananas foster! It is heaven.
I made banana bread coffee cake muffins not that long ago, and I loved the combination. Coffee cake, for me, is an often forgotten treat. I love coffee cake, but it doesn’t always come to mind first when I’m trying to come up with things to bake. When I have it, I’m always like “Wow, I love coffee cake. Why don’t I make this more?”
That same thought process happened with those muffins, and I knew that I needed to attempt an entire banana-themed coffee cake next.
So this is what we have. Super caramelized, sweet banana bread batter layered with thick, coffee-cake-style streusel. It is divine. AND easy! Which is always a plus when it comes to baking anything.
Ingredients You’ll Need for This Roasted Banana Coffee Cake:
- Very ripe bananas
- Unsalted butter
- Eggs
- Milk
- Full-fat sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- Baking powder
- Kosher salt
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Powdered sugar
How to Make This Roasted Banana Coffee Cake:
- The first step is to roast your bananas. This is such a simple step but it enhances the banana flavor ten fold. They get super soft and carmelized. To do this, place them in a 350°F oven on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until the skins are black and they smell sweet and caramely. They should be super soft.
- Then we make the batter. Cream together softened butter and granulated sugar until creamy and smooth and then add the caramelized bananas and their juices (discard the skins). Mix in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and add half of them to the batter. Mix in the milk. Finish by adding in the remaining half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Next, make the streusel. Cut COLD cubed butter (it must be cold) into a mixture of flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until the mixture resembles crumbly wet sand.
- Pour half the batter into a greased 9×13-inch pan, and then top with half of the streusel. Top with the remaining half of the batter and the final layer of streusel.
- Bake for 5-60 minutes until puffed, deeply golden, and set in the center.
- Allow to cool before topping with a simple glaze. Slice and serve!
Tips & Tricks:
- If your bananas are already extremely ripe, you don’t have to roast them. It WILL enhance their flavor even more, but it is a step you could skip. I recommend trying it if you haven’t before!
- Ensure that you are using room temperature, soft butter for the batter and very cold butter for the streusel. If time permits, I will make the streusel first and pop it in the fridge while I prep all the other components. That way, it’s extremely cold when it first goes into the oven. This allows for it to maintain it’s texture after baked, while also ensuring that it will not dissolve into the batter.
- This cake will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days. It’s very moist and will hold up well.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy:
- Banana Bread Coffee Cake Muffins
- Healthy Coconut Oil Banana Bread
- Espresso Chocolate Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Glaze
- Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins with Sweet Chai Butter
This is one of the best versions of banana bread I’ve made yet. It’s so rich and decadent with tons of banana bread flavor and coffee cake streusel – the best of both worlds!
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Roasted Banana Bread Coffee Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
This Roasted Banana Bread Coffee Cake is the best of two worlds: banana bread and streusely coffee cake! Roasting the bananas takes the flavor and sweetness to an entirely new level, and we don’t skimp on the streusel here (it IS the best part, after all). This is a match made in baking heaven!
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 large, very ripe bananas, left whole and unpeeled
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup full-fat sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup milk (I used 1%)
For the Streusel Layers:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the unpeeled bananas on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until the skins are darkened and the bananas are very soft. They should smell caramely.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, start on your cake batter by creaming together the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer (alternatively, you can use a hand mixer). Mix until the butter and sugar are smooth, creamy, and lightened in color.
- Carefully cut open the banana peels and scoop the softened flesh into the mixing bowl. I also add any juices that may have accumulated on the baking sheet – they have so much flavor. Mix until the bananas are incorporated.
- Add in the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and mix to combine.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt.
- Add in half of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until just combined.
- Pour in the milk and beat to combine.
- Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Resist the urge to overmix this batter – it will get tough and dense, which is not what you want with coffee cake. Mix until there are no dry bits visible and then stop.
For the Streusel Layers:
- In a bowl, combine the flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add in the cold cubed butter and mix with your hands until the mixture is crumbly and the butter has been evenly dispersed. It will feel like slightly wet sand.
To Assemble:
- Pour half of the batter into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan. I also line my pan with parchment paper (with an overhang) so I can easily remove the coffee cake later. This is optional as long as your pan is well greased.
- Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture over the first layer of batter.
- Pour the remaining batter over top, spreading it as evenly as you can to cover the streusel without mixing it in.
- Top with the remaining half of the streusel.
- Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only moist crumbs (not wet batter).
- Allow to cool before topping with the glaze.
For the Glaze:
- Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add more milk, as needed, to achieve a drizzling consistency.
- Drizzle the glaze all over the top of the coffee cake, being as liberal as you like.
Slice the cake and serve.
Notes
- If your bananas are already extremely ripe, you don’t have to roast them. It WILL enhance their flavor even more, but it is a step you could skip.
- This cake will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for several days. It’s very moist and will hold up well.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Category: coffee cake
Hi There. I'm Molly. I'm a food-obsessed, self-taught cook and I can't wait to share my passion for all things culinary with you. My love for egg yolks is just the tip of the iceberg!
thank you for helping me to amp up or completely throw out my old banana bread loaf recipe, it’s fairly plain by comparison with your combo coffee cake and roasted bananas, much more to my liking!
WOW! Thank you for this recipe. The cake was so moist and crumbly and the banana flavor was strong. Will make again and again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU for taking the time to leave a review!
I just made this last night and my house still smells so good this morning. I never roasted bananas before, but now I think it’s the only way I’ll make banana bread from here on out. This is a delicious and easy recipe = I can’t wait to have a slice with my morning coffee!
AMAZING!!! The caramelized banana makes it out of this world and this is one of the best recipes I’ve ever seen! My family loves it 🙂 Thanks
Thanks for the terrific recipe. Gave some pieces of this cake away as thank-you gifts and received compliments from everyone who ate it. My son asked me to put this recipe in my “best of” book.