Every single time I go to the grocery store I pick up a bunch of bananas, and every single time they turn brown before I get to eat them. See when it comes to actually eating bananas whole I like them just ripe and even a little green. No overly sweet mushy bananas for me thank you! I’m happy to throw the slightly speckled ones into a smoothie or even into cereal, but more often than not they are pretty darn brown before I remember I forgot to eat them.
That is why, my friends, you can find tons of banana recipes here on the blog. I sure do love baking with bananas. The riper the better when it comes to baking, and they add such a wonderful texture to baked goods! This week’s ripe bananas ended up in this Cinnamon Swirl Banana Crumb Cake which was just to die for.
The cake itself is moist and fluffy, with a gooey cinnamon swirl and lots of sugary crumb topping. Warm out of the oven it almost melts in your mouth, the perfect pairing with your morning coffee. I love cakes like this because they are easy to make and pretty impressive to add to a brunch spread or even just to snack on. (It really isn’t overly sweet.)
If my buying-banana problem yields delicious treats like this- I think it’s the best problem ever right?
- ¾ cup butter
- 1½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 cup mashed bananas
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1½ tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups of flour
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- In a small bowl, stir together the filling ingredients and set aside.
- Stir the flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the melted butter until large crumbs form.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9x13 pan and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on high until smooth.
- In another bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking soda and powder.
- On low speed, mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined. Add the buttermilk and bananas.
- Spread half the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the batter, and then spread the rest of the batter on top.
- Use a butter knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Elisa @ Insalata di Sillabe says
March 24, 2014 at 8:14 amI’m not a big fan of bananas, so I don’t get to bake with them often but I really like this cake, and the cinnamon-banana combo sounds interesting to me, so I’m going to give it a chance!
xo, Elisa
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
March 24, 2014 at 8:14 amThere’s something so special about a crumb topping despite it only having a few ingredients. This cake looks so good!
Meagan @ A Zesty Bite says
March 24, 2014 at 9:22 amMy bananas are always going brown too.
This banana crumb cake looks so delicious.
Claire Gallam says
March 24, 2014 at 9:56 amThis couldn’t be more perfect if you tried.
Rebecca says
March 24, 2014 at 11:18 amThis is a great recipe!!! So delicious- I love the crumb topping!
Rachel @the dessert chronicles says
March 24, 2014 at 11:32 amI love the cake to crumb ratio here. Perfection! That cinnamon swirl looks to die for too. I have never made banana crumb cake, but it sounds like an awesome variation!
Jennie says
March 24, 2014 at 11:43 amDid you use unsweetened cocoa powder in the filling?
Audra says
March 24, 2014 at 11:10 pmYes- I will fix that :)
Coco in the Kitchen says
March 24, 2014 at 12:11 pmThese look perfect, Audra. I have some streusel left from making Armenian cookies over the w/end – will post teh recipe soon! xo
Allison @ Celebrating Sweets says
March 24, 2014 at 12:31 pmThese look amazing! Now, if I can just get those bananas on my counter to hurry up and ripen. I can’t wait to try this recipe! :)
Clever Hen says
March 24, 2014 at 12:32 pmThere is something about a crumb topping that gets me every time! This recipe is next on my list of…must bake!
Stephie @ Eat Your Heart Out says
March 24, 2014 at 12:36 pmI only eat green bananas, too! My smushy, ripe bananas get stuck in the freezer for smoothies and baking, too. I have a surplus of frozen ‘naners right now…looks like maybe I need to make this cake, huh?
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
March 24, 2014 at 1:04 pmI do the same thing with bananas! This cake needs to be next on the list for using them up! Love that gooey cinnamon swirl!
Annie @ Annie's City Kitchen says
March 24, 2014 at 4:35 pmUgh, eating this warm from the oven with coffee would be perfection at my daily 3pm energy lull. I love a super moist cake with a good crumb.
Meg says
March 25, 2014 at 10:24 amI’m obsessed with bananas on the whole, but baking with them? Truly great! This sounds fantastic, and I love that I already have all the ingredients . . . even buttermilk. What are the odds of that? Know what I’ll be doing later! :)
Jennifer | Bake or Break says
March 25, 2014 at 11:02 amI absolutely love this! Cinnamon makes just about everything better, right? I have the same track record with bananas. I think I end up baking with more of them than are actually eaten around here.
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
March 25, 2014 at 2:54 pmwin win!!! Such a perfect breakfast—looooove this coffee cake!
Nicole @ Culinary Cool says
March 25, 2014 at 11:01 pmWe have the exact opposite problem with bananas….they are always eaten before I can bake with them. I can’t determine if that’s a good thing or a bad thing! In any case, this cake would be a welcome addition to my morning coffee break! I adore the combination of cinnamon and banana.
Jane says
April 1, 2014 at 9:32 pmGreat cake recipe but was wondering if the 2 cups of flour in the crumb topping was correct?
Audra says
April 2, 2014 at 2:46 pmHi Jane! Yes- the 2 cups is correct. It’s a thick crumb topping! :)
Vickie S. says
April 2, 2014 at 7:41 amI baked this cake last night and just brought it into my office for my co-workers and are they happy! It really is an outstanding recipe and definitely a keeper! I’ve made many crumb cakes in my time but never a banana crumb cake and it really works. So moist and delicious! I’ve been “studying” crumb variations this year, and this one is the best so far! Lots and lots of crumb in relation to the cake itself, just the way I love it. Thank you so much!
Audra says
April 2, 2014 at 2:46 pmThanks Vickie! I am so glad you liked it!
Jennifer says
April 4, 2014 at 2:02 pmAudra
when i made this crumb cake it was delicious and moist. the only problem was my cinnamon filling sank to the bottom. Did any body else have this problem? Audra if you could advise why this happened? My batter was split equally. Thanks for ur help
Audra says
April 4, 2014 at 5:38 pmHmm- I’m so confused by that Jennifer! The only thing I can think of is that there wasn’t enough batter on the bottom. Did you swirl the cinnamon filling in as well?
Jessi says
April 12, 2014 at 8:34 amHi Audra! I just wanted to let you know that you’ve got some recipes which aren’t under any category! Such as this one, that doesn’t appear in the recipe index ;) Also, there are some uncategorized, like the Banana Chocolate Chip Cake with Caramel and Whipped Cream, the Banana Pudding Parfaits, the Salted Caramel Sticky Buns, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shortbread, the Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread and the Mixed Berry Pavlova! They are just wonderful recipes with beautiful photos, so I thought you might want to know that they aren’t in the index! Thank you for you beautiful blog ;)
Audra says
April 12, 2014 at 9:19 amThank you so much for letting me know- I’ll get right on fixing that :)
Jessi says
April 13, 2014 at 12:05 amNo problem! I wasn’t sure if I should ask, given you must be really busy! Thank you for replying!
Mildred says
June 9, 2014 at 11:36 pmWell hi this recipe looks very interesting I was just wondering if their is any substitutions for the buttermilk kinda on a tight budget. Well if you can reply anytime soon it would be great can’t wait to try it.:))
Becky says
June 10, 2014 at 4:51 pmHey, you could make buttermilk while taking milk, mix it with a spoon of lemonjuice (or depending on the taste with vinegar), let it sit for 10 minutes and then go on with the recipe. I hope, this is helping?!
Best, Becky
Audra says
June 10, 2014 at 7:27 pmYou could use sour cream, yogurt, or like Becky said- regular milk with lemon juice or vinegar to make it “sour milk”
Rexy says
September 1, 2014 at 1:45 pmJust made this yesterday. I love all things banana.. The cake was good but the cinnamon swirl overwhelmed the flavor of the banana cake and made the whole thing wayyyyy too sweet. Between the sweetness of the crumb topping (Which I always love and had to add more butter to get the right consistency of crumbs) and sugar in the cake itself the cinnamon layer was just too much! I like the idea of this cinnamon layer and will use it in a different cake, but next time I make this I will omit the cinnamon layer and maybe add another banana to the cake.
Tara says
December 21, 2014 at 10:32 pmK, something is wrong with my crumb topping. Is there really supposed to be 2 cups flour??? This did not turn out right…. Please respond….
Audra says
December 22, 2014 at 10:29 pmYup- 2 cups. I make this crumb topping for virtually every “crumb-topped” thing I make and it always works well. So sorry it didn’t work out for you!
SMILY says
March 21, 2015 at 2:11 pmHow can I make this recipe in a 8×8 pan? If you can please help me out.