Banana Coffee Cake Bread

Banana coffee cake bread has a delicious gooey cinnamon swirl running through it and is topped with a generous layer of crispy-crumbly streusel! It is a unique twist on banana bread and goes perfectly with a cup of coffee for a cozy breakfast treat.

This banana bread variation starts with a basic banana bread recipe but pulls inspiration from coffee cake with a couple of extra steps. It’s easy enough to make on a weekday morning but impressive enough for a weekend brunch treat. We hope you love it!

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Ingredients

You’ll need a handful of fresh or frozen very ripe bananas to make this, otherwise all other ingredients can be pulled from your pantry. There isn’t much hands-on work to do and the steps are quite simple. Here’s a brief ingredient rundown.

Bananas: This recipe is pretty flexible- as long as you have 2-4 extra ripe bananas, you’re ready to roll.

Flour: This recipe has only been tested with all-purpose flour, although we have made other banana bread variations with 1:1 GF flour and oat flour.

Sugar: We used cane sugar in this recipe however, brown sugar, white sugar, or coconut sugar should all work out.

Baking Soda & Baking Powder: Baking soda is activated in this recipe by the banana to provide lift. Baking powder helps as well. Baking soda assists with browning– most banana baked goods have an ultra-golden brown exterior thanks to baking soda!

Butter: Melted butter (vegan or dairy) has a better flavor and texture in our opinion but you can use oil if you prefer.

Vanilla: Vanilla enhances the cinnamon and brown sugar flavors.

Cinnamon: Gives the flavor of coffee cake. Is ultra warm and cozy.

How To Make Banana Coffee Cake Bread

This banana bread variant is made and baked like all our other banana breads! It’s a quick bread that we’re elevating with a cinnamon swirl and a streusel topping!

Mix wet ingredients: Peel and mash the bananas very thoroughly. Add the melted butter and vanilla extract and mix.

Mix dry ingredients: Sprinkle flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda across the top of the wet ingredients and stir gently until just combined.

Add swirl & struesel: Pour half the batter into a loaf pan, top with cinnamon swirl, then pour in the remaining batter. Top it all of with streusel!

Bake it: We like to line the loaf pan with parchment for easy removal and bake in the center rack of a 350* oven.

Leave the loaf to cool for 15-20 minutes for it to firm up and make slicing easier. This banana bread coffee cake doesn’t call for any eggs, so it’s a touch more tender structure-wise.

Coffee Cake Elements (Swirl & Streusel)

Here’s the good stuff. Same as coffee cake and cinnamon rolls, this banana bread has a cinnamon-sugar vein running through it. YUM! The best coffee cakes have a thick top layer of ultra crumbly-crisp streusel and we’re adding that to the top of this banana bread!

Cinnamon Swirl: Mix brown sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl, you’ll sprinkle this into the wet batter before baking.

Streusel: Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, and melted butter together until it has a crumbly texture. This will go on top of the loaf.

How To Tell When Banana Bread Is Done

The classic ‘toothpick test’ is our go-to method for checking if banana bread is done. Stick a toothpick into the middle of the loaf, press down into it, and remove the toothpick. If there is wet batter on it, it needs to bake for longer; if the toothpick is clean or only has a few dry crumbs it is fully baked.

Banana bread can take anywhere from 45-70 minutes to fully bake! Many factors are at play.

Additional things to note on checking doneness:

#1 Look at the edges of the loaf, they should have pulled inward from the pan a bit and feel firm/set.

#2 Banana bread always gets a crack down the center as air escapes, the area around this crack is usually last to cook up as the crack runs through the center. If this area is still doughy, it’s not ready.

#3 The amount of bananas you use plays a part here! More mashed banana = a wetter dough and more moisture to cook out. This is ok, just keep in mind banana bread can take anywhere from 45-70 minutes!

#4 The size of the loaf pan you bake in. There are two very common loaf pan sizes: 8×4 and 9×5. The 9×5 pans create shorter, wider loaves that cook up a bit quicker. An 8×4 pan takes longer as it’s a taller loaf! (which we prefer)

#5 The material of the pan! A light-colored metal pan is ideal for all your baking projects as light-colored metal evenly distributes heat and cooks things most evenly. For dark metal or glass pans, the heat transfer is more intense- meaning the edges will cook up faster than the center. If using a metal or glass pan you may need to kick down the temp by 25* or tent the loaf with aluminum foil for the last 10-20 minutes if you notice the edges becoming too dark or dry.

Storing Coffee Cake Banana Bread

This banana bread will stay good for up to 4 days at room temp, but after 2 days the crumb topping starts to lose its crispness. We recommend storing the loaf in a Tupperware with the lid slightly ajar so the top doesn’t get soft. Or you can store it in a sealed tupperware in the fridge.

Banana bread freezes super well! Having a loaf of this in the freezer waiting for you is such a lifesaver. To freeze, wait for the loaf to cool completely to room temperature (4-6 hours) then wrap it several times with plastic wrap. Be careful around the crumb topping. You can store the wrapped loaf in a plastic bag in the freezer to prevent freezer burn.

To reheat, remove the plastic wrap and place the frozen loaf on a sheet pan (or loaf pan), and tent with foil. Bake in a 325* oven for about 30 minutes, until the center is warm and toasty.

In recipe testing many loaves of banana bread, we had frozen banana bread for WEEKS and always used this method to reheat it.

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