Lightly sweetened cake with perfect layers of brown sugar crumble, this Banana Coffee Cake is not only full of flavor, but has the perfect texture too. Easily made gluten free and the cake is naturally sweetened with honey. Top it off with just the right amount of brown sugar crumble—making for a perfect quick breakfast or afternoon treat.
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Preparing to make Banana Coffee Cake
Making this recipe, you’ll only need 1 large bowl and an 8×8 or 9×9 cake pan. Gotta love that minimal clean up time, amiright? Spray your pan with non-stick spray and turn the oven up to 350°F. Now you’re ready to start!
Simple List of Ingredients
The dark brown sugar and cinnamon is what adds a ton of flavor in the crumble, but the cake itself is such a perfect blend of banana and honey, deliciously sweet, without being overly sugar-y.
If you’re looking for a simple, but special breakfast cake to bring to share with friends, or give the kids a weekday treat, or for a holiday breakfast spread, this recipe hits the spot! It tastes amazing in the morning with a cup of hot coffee (or cold milk, if you’re under 7, like my kids) and goes great with your afternoon tea and first chance to sit down all day.
Tell me all about this Banana Coffee Cake Recipe
- Texture – Full of moist ingredients, this cake is denser than a typical “fluffy” cake, but still has a delicious crumb. Gluten free flour works perfectly for this kind of cake, since the moistness offsets the typical dryness of GF flour blends.
- Sweetness – This cake is the ideal sweetness for breakfast or an afternoon snack, even dessert. The cake is only sweetened with bananas and honey. The brown sugar and cinnamon swirled inside and sprinkled on top add a real sweetness without being over the top.
- Ease – This recipe ranks very low on difficulty. Using only 1 bowl, the only different step is the swirl and scoop with the crumble and cake batter. Just watch the recipe video or see the step-by-step instructions below the recipe.
- Bake – The Coffee Cake bakes for 30-35 minutes, or until the center is set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Time – I’ll bet this recipe will only take 45 minutes from start to first delicious bite.
What makes this coffee cake special?
- Bananas – We all love a classic coffee cake, I’m sure. (If you’re looking for another simple coffee cake, try our popular Yellow Cake Mix Coffee Cake.) The bananas give this cake an extra dose of morning joy, moist flavor and nutrition.
- Gluten Free – This recipe was developed specifically with King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour Blend. However, it would still be delicious with all-purpose flour or another gluten free flour blend, such as Cup4Cup or Bob’s Red Mill 1:1.
- Low Sugar – The cake is naturally sweetened with bananas and a touch of honey. Obviously, the brown sugar crumble add more sweetness, but it’s still lower in sugar than a typical coffee cake recipe.
Modify this recipe for any diet.
Dairy Free
- Milk – Swap out regular milk for your favorite milk substitute. Mine is almond milk for baking, but whatever you have on hand will work.
- Butter – My favorite simple butter substitute is using a stick butter substitute. The butter in sticks works best since it gets harder and to keep the crumble from melting, you want the butter to be solid. I like Country Crock Plant Butter.
Vegan
- Eggs – To make this banana coffee cake vegan, follow the restrictions above, plus swap out the eggs for 2 flax eggs or 1/2 Cup of unsweetened applesauce.
- Honey – if you want to swap out the honey, you can use a granulated vegan sugar or monkfruit sweetener, using the same measurement as the honey.
Gluten Free
- The cake pictured is gluten free, using King Arthur Flour Measure for Measure GF Flour. So we know it comes out great when made gluten free. Check out this post about why we choose to use that flour blend in almost all of our gluten free option recipes.
How to store Banana Coffee Cake
If your cake makes it beyond the first day, store it in the pan, covered with foil. Or place on a plate and cover with foil. I found that storing in an air tight container made the topping become soggy, so it’s best to let it breathe a bit. This breakfast cake will stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Love this Banana Coffee Cake recipe? Try these other breakfast recipes!
Overnight Sticky Pull Apart Rolls 
Blueberry Muffin Cake
If you decide to give this recipe a try, be sure to snap a photo to share, tagging @theovenlight and #theovenlight on Instagram or Facebook!
Banana Coffee Cake | Gluten Free & Low Sugar
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 1/3 C canola oil or vegetable oil
- 1/3 C honey
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 C milk or milk substitute
- 2 C gluten free flour blend or all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Crumble
- 1/2 C gluten free flour blend or all-purpose flour
- 3/4 C dark brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter cold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×9 or 8×8 baking pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, smash bananas using a fork until only small lumps remain.
- Add oil, honey, eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix well.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gently combine, careful not to over mix.
- In a medium size bowl, combine crumble ingredients. Use your hands to combine until mixture is well-combined and only small butter pieces remain (no larger than a pea).
- Evenly spread half the cake mixture in the bottom of the pan.
- Top with half the crumble, spreading evenly.
- Spoon large dollops of the remaining cake mixture on top of crumble. With a knife, run in a zig zag or swirl pattern to gently combine.
- Top with remaining crumble.
- Bake on center rack for 30-35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
- Enjoy!!!
Mash up 3 bananas with a fork.
Add oil, honey, eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix well.
Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Gently combine wet and dry ingredients.
Use your hands to mix the crumble ingredients.
Spread half of cake mixture to edges of pan.
Sprinkle half of crumble mixture on top.
Spoon remaining cake mixture over crumble.
Gently swirl together.
Sprinkle remaining crumble on top.
Finished! Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes.
Not sure if I have missed something but this banana coffed cake is made without coffee??
Hi Ursula! Coffee cake is actually commonly a sweet cake with a cinnamon and brown sugar topping. It’s called “coffee cake” because it is best enjoyed with coffee. Traditionally there is no coffee in the cake though.
What is “C” in ingredient measurement please?
Hello! The “C” stands for cup. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Tastes great, but had some trouble with the crumble melting into a big clump. I think my hands were too warm. Added a bit of caramel sauce to compensate, make it spreadable instead.
Yep, you’ll want to be sure to use cold butter and if the crumble gets too warm, go ahead and stick it in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Caramel sauce sounds amazing!