Cinnamon Swirl Banana Crumb Cake
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?
Cinnamon Swirl Banana Crumb Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 cup mashed bananas
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
For the Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
For the Crumb Topping:
- 2 cups of flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the filling ingredients and set aside.
For the crumb topping:
- Stir the flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the melted butter until large crumbs form.
For the cake:
- 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.
Notes
Base cake recipe adapted from: AllRecipes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 18 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
I’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
There’s something so special about a crumb topping despite it only having a few ingredients. This cake looks so good!
My bananas are always going brown too.
This banana crumb cake looks so delicious.
This couldn’t be more perfect if you tried.
This is a great recipe!!! So delicious- I love the crumb topping!
I 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!
Did you use unsweetened cocoa powder in the filling?
Yes- I will fix that :)
These look perfect, Audra. I have some streusel left from making Armenian cookies over the w/end – will post teh recipe soon! xo
These 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! :)
There is something about a crumb topping that gets me every time! This recipe is next on my list of…must bake!
I 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?
I do the same thing with bananas! This cake needs to be next on the list for using them up! Love that gooey cinnamon swirl!
Ugh, 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.
I’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! :)
I 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.
win win!!! Such a perfect breakfast—looooove this coffee cake!
We 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.
Great cake recipe but was wondering if the 2 cups of flour in the crumb topping was correct?
Hi Jane! Yes- the 2 cups is correct. It’s a thick crumb topping! :)
I 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!
Thanks Vickie! I am so glad you liked it!
Audra
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
Hmm- 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?
Hi 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 ;)
Thank you so much for letting me know- I’ll get right on fixing that :)
No problem! I wasn’t sure if I should ask, given you must be really busy! Thank you for replying!
Well 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.:))
Hey, 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
You could use sour cream, yogurt, or like Becky said- regular milk with lemon juice or vinegar to make it “sour milk”
Just 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.
K, something is wrong with my crumb topping. Is there really supposed to be 2 cups flour??? This did not turn out right…. Please respond….
Yup- 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!
How can I make this recipe in a 8×8 pan? If you can please help me out.