If banana bread and coffee cake had a baby, it would be this Banana Coffee Cake. If you love bananas you’ll love this moist banana cake ribboned with brown sugar walnut streusel and topped with walnut crumble.

a banana coffee cake on a wood cake plate.

Banana bread is wonderful, but banana coffee cake is even better. Who doesn’t want a ribbon of streusel and a pile of brown sugar crumbs on their breakfast?

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Bananas – Use overripe bananas for this recipe. You can use previously frozen bananas. Use a fork to mash the bananas into a chunky paste.
Cake Flour – Low protein cake flour forms a very fine and tender cake crumb.
Brown Sugar – Use either light or dark brown sugar.
Sour Cream – The acidity in the sour cream tenderizes the cake. It adds richness and great depth of flavor.

Process Photos

See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.

mashed bananas, eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a glass bowl.

Mash the bananas with a fork until you have a chunky paste.
Add the eggs, vanilla and half of the sour cream.
Mix until well combined then set it aside.

ingredients for walnut streusel in a food processor.

Combine the walnuts, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon in a food processor.
Process until the mixture is a coarse powder. Set aside 1/2 cup for the streusel filling.
Add butter and flour to the processor.
Process until the crumbs begin to clump together. Set the crumb topping aside.

flour, butter sour cream and eggs in a mixing bowl.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix to combine. Toss in the butter.
Mix to break up the butter then add half of the sour cream.
Mix on high speed to aerate the batter.
Add the banana mixture.

cake batter and streusel layers in a cake pan.

Spread half of the batter into a springform pan then sprinkle the streusel filling over the batter.
Dollop the rest of the batter over the filling and spread to an even layer.
Grab a large clump of the crumb topping and break it into smaller clumps over the batter.
Distribute the crumb topping evenly over the cake.

Start the cake on the bottom rack of a 400F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350F.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before releasing the sides of the pan.

Why you need to start this cake in a very hot oven

a slice of banana coffee cake on a plate.

The weight of the streusel filling and crumb topping can press down on the cake batter as it bakes. You can see from this photo, the bottom part of cake is compressed into a gummy layer.

To prevent that gummy layer from forming, the cake is baked on the bottom rack of a 400F oven to start. The bottom of the cake will rise and set quickly so it can support the weight of the streusel and crumbs. The temperature is then reduced to finished baking the cake.

Recipe Tips & Storage Info

A springform pan makes it easy to unmold the cake without disturbing the crumb topping.
The same recipe can be baked as jumbo muffins. The muffin tins should only be about 1/2 full once the crumbs are added. You’re better off under filling than over filling the pans.
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days. Do not refrigerate the cake.
Left over slices can be individually wrapped and frozen for up to a month.

Since you love coffee cake, try these other fabulous recipes: Sourdough Coffee Cake, Pumpkin Coffee Cake, Peach & Pecan Coffee Cake, Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake.

a slice of banana coffee cake on a white plate.

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4.42 from 12 reviews