Half the Sugar Baker
There’s no better way to start your day than with coffee cake! This coffee cake is full of banana flavor, which is perfect with the cinnamon streusel! It’s super moist and fluffy, but best of all, it’s made with less sugar and butter than traditional coffee cake. Compared to the most popular coffee cake recipe online, this banana coffee cake has 50% less sugar!
Tips and notes:
Ingredient notes:
Milk: you can use any type of milk you want for this recipe. I used 2% skim milk because that’s what I had on hand.
Lemon juice: the lemon juice in this recipe is mixed with the milk to create a quick buttermilk substitute. It reacts with the baking soda to give this cake a good rise.
Flour: This recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour. If you want to use some almond flour, you can replace up to half the flour with almond flour, but my favorite ratio is 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, and 1/2 cup almond flour.
Spices: I like to add some ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg to my batter, but it’s completely optional.
Leavener: This recipe calls for baking powder and baking soda. Baking soda is much more powerful than baking powder, so make sure you don’t get the measurements mixed up!
Bananas: You will need 4 bananas for this recipe, which is roughly 2 cups. The best bananas to use are ones that are completely browned.
Pecans and shredded coconut: These ingredients are used in the filling of the coffee cake and I think they pair perfectly with the banana cake. If you don’t have them, you can replace them with other nuts or just skip them.
Technique notes:
The batter: The batter is a simple process of whisking together the dry ingredients and creaming the butter and sugar. Then the rest of the wet ingredients are combined. Just be careful not to overmix the batter, or it could get tough.
The filling: the filling is super easy. You don’t even need to mix anything! All you have to do is pour half of the batter into the pan and then sprinkle brown sugar, ground cinnamon, pecans, and shredded coconut on top. Then pour the rest of your batter over the filling.
The streusel: In order to make the streusel healthier, I decided to use rolled oats as the main ingredient. It’s super easy to make. All you have to do is mix together the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon. Then add the softened butter and mix together. Keep the streusel in the fridge until ready to use.
If you liked this healthier banana cinnamon coffee cake, you might also like…
Healthier Banana Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the streusel topping:
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
For the batter:
- 1 cup milk room temperature
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups mashed bananas around 4 medium bananas
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the filling:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and set aside.
Make the streusel:
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon. Then add the butter and combine with a fork. Place in fridge until ready to use.
Make the batter:
- In a small bowl, combine the milk and lemon juice. Set aside while you make the rest of the batter. You should see it begin to curdle.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated. Then add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Then sprinkle the ingredients for the filling evenly on top. Then add the rest of the batter and gently spread into an even surface using a spatula. Remove the streusel from the fridge and break into small pieces using your fingers. Sprinkle the streusel on top of the batter and bake for 30-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Once done baking, remove from the oven and serve warm. Enjoy!
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