Banana Crumb Cake

Banana crumb cake is a moist banana cake with a cinnamon sugar filling and a crunchy walnut oat crumble topping. Meet the more sophisticated relative of banana bread!

Tired of making the same old banana bread every time you have overripe bananas?

Here’s a new spin on banana bread! Banana crumb cake is a cross between banana bread and coffee cake.

Banana Coffee Cake with Walnut Oat Crumble

It’s soft, moist, and such a pleasure to eat.

Best of all, this banana crumb cake is suitable to enjoy anytime of day, from breakfast to midnight snack!

This cake relies on the sweetness of overripe bananas for flavor.

As such, it is vital to use bananas past their prime. Use the kind of bananas that are too soft to peel and eat as is.

Use ripe bananas for baking

When it comes to baked goods, the riper the banana, the better!

Ripe bananas are soft and speckled with dark brown spots. I like to wait until the bananas look like the ones photographed above.

At this point, the ripe bananas are easy to mash into a puree simply using a fork.

From banana bundt cake to banana layer cake and banana jackfruit muffins, ripe bananas add the perfect amount of moisture and sweetness to baked treats.

How to Ripen Bananas

Let firm green or yellow bananas sit at room temperature for several days. The bananas should be ready by day 4 or 5.

To quicken the ripening process, place firm yellow bananas in a brown paper bag with an apple. After a day or two, the bananas should be ready.

Apples naturally produce ethylene, a gas that promotes ripening. This works on several fruits such as bananas, avocados, and peaches.

Essential Equipment and Tools:

• 9-inch tube pan with removable bottom
• electric hand mixer or stand mixer
• small or mini food processor

Banana Crumb Cake Components:

• Banana Cake
• Cinnamon Sugar Filling
• Walnut Oat Crumble
• Maple Glaze Icing

Banana Cake

The banana cake is a cross between a coffee cake and banana bread. It has a soft and moist crumb.

The batter can be mixed together by hand. However, I suggest using an electric hand mixer for ease.

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

This is your standard cinnamon sugar mixture. I used a combination of dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and ground cinnamon.

Feel free to add additional spice such as ground nutmeg, cloves, or allspice, if desired.

Walnut Oat Crumble

This is my go-to streusel crumb topping. I slightly adjusted the sugar amount to account for the extra sweetness of the ripe bananas.

Otherwise, the crumb topping is the same one used for this blueberry walnut streusel cake.

It is a crumby mixture of walnuts, rolled oats, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. The mixture is quickly pulsed together in a food processor.

It’s a great topping for your favorite muffins! The crumb topping may be baked as it and used to garnish yogurt and oatmeal, as well.

Maple Glaze Icing

The glaze is optional. It is a simple mixture of powdered sugar, maple syrup, and milk.

Notes on Cooling Banana Cake

The banana crumb cake is very fragile while hot.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Run a mini offset spatula along the perimeter of the cake to loosen from the tube pan. Then, lift the center to remove cake from mold.

Cool cake to room temperature on a wire rack. This will take anywhere from 30- 90 minutes. Once cake is cool to the touch, you may carefully unmold cake.

For easier unmolding, I suggest lining the tube pan bottom with parchment paper.

For the finishing touch, the cooled banana crumb cake is topped with maple glaze icing. The icing adds an additional layer of flavor, but also helps to secure the crumb topping in place.

Upon slicing into the cake, you will see the hidden cinnamon sugar filling layer.

Taste and Texture

Contrary to most baked goods, this banana crumb cake actually tastes better the following day after baking!

Allow the cake to completely cool to room temperature before slicing into. Otherwise, the interior of the cake will be a bit gummy. A cooled cake has regained its structure and is easier to cut into clean slices.

This cake is best served with coffee, tea, or a tall glass of milk. Much of the cake’s sweetness comes from the ripe bananas. As such, it is very important to use RIPE BANANAS!

Storage and Leftovers:

Allow cake to completely cool to room temperature before storing. Unglazed cake can be covered tightly with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Glazed cakes should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. This banana cake can be held at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Enjoy sliced banana cake chilled, at room temperature, or warmed up.