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.
Table of Contents
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.
Banana Crumb Cake
Equipment
- 9-inch tube pan with removable bottom
- small food processor
Ingredients
Crumble Topping:
- ½ cup (65 g) walnuts,, lightly toasted*
- ¼ cup (50 g ) dark brown sugar,, packed
- ¼ cup (30 g ) old fashioned oats, (rolled oats)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoon (28 g) unsalted butter,, cold
Filling:
- 3 Tablespoon (38 g) dark brown sugar,, packed
- 3 Tablespoon (38 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Banana Cake:
- 2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter,, softened, room temp
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs,, room temp
- 2 teaspoon (10 g) vanilla paste
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp (260 g) mashed ripe banana, (3 small bananas or 2 medium bananas)
- 3 Tablespoon (45 g) sour cream,, room temp
Maple Glaze Icing:
- 1 cup (113g ) confectioners sugar, (powdered sugar), unsifted
- 1 Tablespoon dark maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon milk,, or more depending on desired consistency
- pinch kosher salt
Instructions
Crumble Topping:
- Place walnuts, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor. Quickly pulse 3 to 5 times until walnuts are coarsely chopped. Add cold cubed butter. Pulse another 3 to 5 times until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
Filling:
- In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Banana Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9-inch tube pan with removable bottom. Tap out any excess flour. For easier unmolding, line bottom of tube pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until incorporated. Add mashed bananas. Mix until combined. (Batter may look curdled.)
- Add half of dry mixture. Mix on low speed until batter starts to form. Scrape down sides of the bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing. Mix in sour cream. Follow with remaining half of dry mixture. Mix until just combined and there are no longer any dry streaks of flour.
Assembly:
- Add half of cake batter to prepared tube pan. Spread into an even layer. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar filling over cake batter. Top with remaining half of cake batter. Spread into an even layer. Sprinkle crumble topping over cake batter.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until crumble topping is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in tube pan for 15-20 minutes. Run mini offset spatula along perimeter of cake to loosen from tube pan. Unmold cake and transfer to wire rack. Cool to room temperature (30-90 minutes). Unmold cake from tube pan bottom.
- Dust with powdered sugar before serving, or drizzle maple glaze icing on top.
Maple Glaze Icing:
- In a small bowl, combine confectioners sugar, maple syrup, milk, and salt. Stir until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add another milk 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
- Drizzle glaze over room temperature banana crumb cake. Allow icing to set, or enjoy immediately.
Notes
- 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Delicious! Whole family loved it. Made it in a 9″X13″ pan, for those asking about different types of pans to use, and it worked just fine. Didn’t even need the glaze. Perfectly sweet, but not too sweet. Thank you for all the delicious recipes! :)
Thank you for sharing your results! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
What can you substitute the sour cream for? Or can you just omit? Don’t mind it just never have it on hand
You can use greek yogurt, yogurt, or milk.
I dislike using tube pans because I find it difficult to successfully remove the cake. Can you give other options: springform, bundt? Thank you
The recipe works best in a tube pan. Butter and flour the tube pan. Tap to remove excess flour. For even easier unmolding, line the bottom of the tube pan with parchment paper. I don’t suggest baking it in a springform because it will take too long for the center of the cake to cook, causing the edges to dry out.
How should I adjust cooking time for cupcakes?
Hi, this recipe does not translate well into cupcakes.
Can I do this is a square pan or a standard Bundt?
You can bake it in a 9-inch square pan or a 9×13-inch baking dish. I don’t suggest using a standard bundt pan because it will be difficult to unmold.