In this banana coffee cake the bananas melt down to a creamy layer that dissolves into the cake so that it’s hard to tell where bananas end and cake begins.
It’s been a long time since my daughter has helped me out with a recipe, so yesterday when E volunteered to assist me with breakfast, I eagerly set her to work measuring and stirring. I had the recipe all worked out on paper, so I didn’t think there’d be much opportunity for her to contribute creatively.
As she does with any endeavor, she asked a thousand questions: “What’s the difference between baking powder and baking soda?” “Why do you add salt when cake isn’t salty?” “Why do you call it ‘flax egg’ when there isn’t any egg in it?” Though she often takes her interrogations to ridiculous extremes (“If we shot the batter into space…”), on this particular occasion she asked a lot of good questions that gave me the chance to educate her a little on baking–or at least the little I know about baking.
When it came time to add the banana to the cake, she stopped me with a question: “What, only one banana? It needs more than that or it’s not really banana cake!” I had to agree, so I dutifully added another banana. And you know, the higher fruit to batter ratio just might have been what made this cake so incredibly delicious.
It’s creamy. It’s sweet. It’s so creamy and sweet that I almost called it Banana Pudding Cake. The bananas melt down to a creamy layer that dissolves into the cake around it so that it’s hard to tell where bananas end and cake begins.
All four of us–my crew plus E’s friend G–were amazed at how good this was. D and I actually had the same articulate response: “Mmmmm. Ohhhh.” In fact, this cake may have been too good: with 4 of us and only 6 pieces, there weren’t enough “seconds” to go around. Perhaps it would be better to serve it as dessert after a full meal than to count on it as a filling breakfast because it will just make you want more!
Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon flax seeds ground
- 4 tablespoons warm water
- 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup soy yogurt may sub applesauce
- 1/3 cup vanilla soy milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup agave nectar may sub maple syrup
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 bananas
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly oil a pie pan or line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper or use a silicone baking pan.
- Mix the ground flax seeds with the warm water and set aside to thicken.
- Mix the turbinado sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Combine the soy yogurt, soymilk, vanilla, and agave nectar in a bowl. Add the flax mixture.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the soy yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread to cover the bottom. Slice the bananas and place the slices over the batter. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon-sugar. Spread the remaining batter over the bananas. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake appears set in the middle. Allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting into 6 slices and serving.
Nutritional info is approximate.
If you’re looking for easy recipes that kids like to make as well as eat, take a look at some of our other E Cooks collaborations:
Banana Coconut Bars
E’s Fruit Salad with Strawberry Sauce
Southern-Style Banana Pudding
Rainbow Stir-Fry
My other coffee (aka “breakfast”) cakes:
Pineapple Coffee Cake
Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake
Sugar-Free Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake
cj
Incredibly delicious!
PatB
Looks delicious. Since I have a soy allergy, I will use applesauce to replace the soy yogurt. How about the soy milk? Would rice or oat milk work as well?
Gourmamy
I made this tonight. I used applesauce in place of soy yogurt, maple syrup in place of agave, ener-g egg replacer, and rice flour in place of the whole wheat flour (to make it gluten-free). I used what I had on hand and it turned out great! Thanks, Susan! Your recipes never fail me 🙂
Brenda
I made two of these for a Sunday brunch and OMG. At first, the mostly omni crowd avoided them–I think just because we had far more showy food items in the spread. But after the first person tried it, the eagerness to scarf these down spread like crazy! We even had a picky 8-year old who ended up loving it, after first saying, “I’m not eating that!” to his mom. He ended up tasting hers and then wanted his own serving. Thanks for another tasty recipe.
cj
I loved this so much the first time I made it that I made it again, but this time with oat flour rather than regular flour. To make the oat flour I just threw a bit more than a cup of rolled oats into the blender. So simple and delicious!!! This is one of my and my omni family’s favorites!
Jackie
Do you have a cookbook out, thank you, Jackie
Danielle
I made this for the first time yesterday afternoon and when my husband had a piece after dinner he said, “This is better than chocolate.”
If you knew his proclivity for chocolate, you would understand what a great compliment that is for this recipe!
Angie
I know this is an older recipe but it’s the first time I’ve made it. I used oat flour instead of wheat to make it gluten free and it came out delicious. I’m sure I’ll make this again!
Sonny
I added 1/2 cup of coconut and a cup of oats as I didn’t have enough mixture for both the bottom and top of pan. I didn’t use the sugar with the cinnamon but added more apple sauce to the wet ingredients and the taste was sweet enough.
Marian Gleason
03/21/2016 – made this again & loved it all over again! THANK YOU for this recipe – it is YUMBO!!
Marian Elizabeth Gleason
Made this for our breakfast today and, even tho we’ve had this cake umpteen times, we love it anew with each devouring. This is definitely a winner, dear Susan!! ❤️
Marian Elizabeth Gleason
PS: I make it just as the recipe instructs, only subbing applesauce for the soy yogurt.
Chris
I hope E appreciates the ripple she sent out as a kid with her two bananas innovation is still rippling outward, years later! I just made the coffeecake with a few substitutions — instead of the sugar I used an equal amount of chopped dates, BUT processed them in a food processor with 1/4 cup of the flour to get smaller pieces that did not stick together. Then I shifted the flour back into the dry ingredients using a sieve and mixed the cinnamon with the dates, set aside. Instead of the applesauce substitution for the soy yogurt, I grated a fresh Anjou pear to the measure required. In assembling, on the last sprinkle of the date/cinnamon mixture, I pressed it into the cake top to prevent the date bits from burning. It came out great. (probably the sugar on top has more crunch, but we wanted to reduce the sugar).
Thanks again, Susan and E!
Susan Voisin
That sounds fantastic! Thanks for reporting back. I doubt E remembers this recipe now, but I will have to mention your words to her.
Melody
I made it for my husband’s birthday yesterday, and he loved it. He is enjoying the leftovers for breakfast. Thanks for much for sharing this awesome recipe. <3
Melody Climo
Sorry. I meant to say “Thank you SO much . . . “
Amelia
I made 2 glaring mistakes: 1st: I did not add the flaxseed egg. I put it aside and when it came time to mix it in, I completely forgot about it. I also used straight=up whole wheat flour. I am not really sure how or why, but it was still delicious! I will use whole wheat again or I might try oat flour as suggested in the comments, but next time, I plan to actually add the flax egg! Might try using maple syrup to top the bananas or just leaving the bananas un-topped with sweetener because, as someone mentioned, the bananas are pretty sweet on their own and I would love to cut down on sugar. Thank you for this fabulous, very forgiving recipe!
Claudia
I have made this many times—in fact I have the recipe memorized. I like to sub 1/2 cup blueberries for each banana, or use both banana and blueberries. It is very popular with everyone and people don’t realize it’s WW pastry flour. Thanks Susan for all your effort in the kitchen!