This upside down banana coffee cake is the kind of thing you might bake to bring to potluck brunch or a book club gathering. It’s dense, flavorful, not overly sweet, and just plain delicious. Sort of the perfect cake alongside a cup of coffee, so if you choose to eat this for breakfast I will not judge you (I may be just as guilty after all).
I used this bundt pan to bake in, making this pretty darn cute with basically no effort, but any bundt pan or a square baking pan will do.
I am a BIG banana bread fan, and this upside down banana coffee cake recipe, as the name suggests, is like if a coffee cake and a banana bread had a baby.
Oh yes, it’s that good. If you use a bundt pan for baking you’ll get the upside down effect with the crumb topping baking on top, but then being served on the bottom (unless you want to serve your bundt upside down, which I suppose you could do).
However, if that’s just too much for you, you could bake this in a square baking pan with the crumb topping baking and being served on top like a more traditional (American) coffee cake. Up to you. Both ways are divine.
Just see my note in the printable recipe card below for slightly adjusting baking time if you do.
Also, do you already know how to quickly ripen bananas? If not, read this post. It’s easy and can take less than an hour in case of coffee cake emergencies.
And if you’re thinking, “Emma, I don’t have a potluck brunch to go to.” I think you should throw one. Or if you’re thinking, “Emma, I’d love to be in a book club but there isn’t one where I live and/or I haven’t been invited to one.”
I think you sound like the perfect person to start one. Sometimes we have to make the life we want, yes? You got this.
Happy baking, friends! xo. Emma
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Ingredients
- ½ cup butter (softened)
- ½ cup sugar (brown)
- ½ cup white sugar (granulated)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3-4 bananas (ripe)
- ½ cup sour cream (or greek yogurt)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
crumb topping
- ¼ cup sugar (brown)
- ½ cup flour
- 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 3-4 tablespoons butter (cold)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars (not the sugar for the crumb topping though, we’ll do that last). Stir in the eggs, vanilla, mashed bananas, and sour cream or greek yogurt. In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet until a thick batter forms.
- In a medium bowl, make the crumb topping by combining the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Use a pastry blender or your clean hands to combine. The mixture should be crumbly, but if you press it together in the palm of your hand it should hold together before crumbling again. Similar to a pie crust consistency, but a little dryer.
- In a bundt pan that has been lightly oiled or buttered add the cake batter. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the top. Bake at 350°F for 35-38 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the cake to test if it’s done (it shouldn’t have gooey, unbaked batter stuck to it when you pull it out). Allow to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing.
I’ve made this cake three times. It’s a crowd favorite. If you’re avoiding allergens or vegan, the following adjustments have worked for me:
1st time: Used eggs, but replaced butter with vegan butter, and greek yogurt with soy yogurt (may have used 4 instead of 3 bananas, not sure anymore)
2nd time: 3 bananas, Flax egg (2 Tlb ground flax, 6 Tlb water), vegan butter, and vegan quark – This one turned out too dense.
3rd time: 3 bananas, flax egg, vegan butter, soy yogurt, and I added some cardamom to the crumble. I also had a scant less flour. This one turned out the best. Great flavor and super tender.
I just made this cake today. Followed the recipe exactly. I needed to bake a few extra minutes, no big deal. Decided to make a vanilla glaze to drizzle on top. Oh my this is amazing. I’m going to print this recipe to use often. Thank you for such a great recipe.
It’s in the oven as we speak! Smells great baking. I did put in a 9X13 pan and doubled the topping. Can’t wait for it to come out of oven!
Looks like you drizzled the finished bundt with something. Do you have a recipe to go with this?
I loved the ease of putting this bundt together…the flavour profile/spice ratio…BUT I wonder if there is a way to ‘re-moisten’ the finished bundt if I, perhaps mistakenly, did ‘t think it looked ‘done’ enough…and added ten minutes to the bake time? I kinda resent that I did leave it in the oven longer…Could I poke a few holes in it and add a tad of an orange juice or maple syrup hydration element?! It tastes wonderful, but I received a couple of comments from the peanut gallery about it being a tad dry for their palates…Aargh.
So I read half of this post back in September and just tonight came back to made this cake. It’s delicious! I’m going to make it again for Christmas breakfast.
Back in September, what really stood out to me about this post was the line:
“Emma, I’d love to be in a book club but there isn’t one where I live and/or I haven’t been invited to one.” I think you sound like the perfect person to start one. Sometimes we have to make the life we want, yes? You got this.”
After I read that, I put down my phone and started thinking and then planning.
I started a book club! We’re having our third meetin Monday! It’s called Short Cut Book Club. I host a local meeting in my house and one online for my long distance friends. Thank you for the push Emma!
There’s way too much moisture in this. I baked it an extra 10 minutes and it was still raw. It’s back in the oven for some more baking.
I’m sorry why would you post a banana coffee recipe WITHOUT coffee?And anyways since many people came here for a recipe WITH coffee is there a chance that you post one?
TIA
In the US, coffee cake is meant to be eaten with coffee, but it’s not actually in the recipe.
I didn’t have a ton of luck with this one… my crumble didn’t stay a crumble at all. All the butter melted out and I ended up having to cook the cake for an hour because of all the extra moisture. Still taste delicious but it certainly didn’t come out like the picture!
This looks so delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
Can i make it without the eggs (and add some lemon juice for the height)? Allso can i use soya yogurt instead of dairy yogurt?
What size bundt pan is good to use for this recipe?
Thanks for sharing this yummy upside banana coffee cake!
I just had some friends moving from the States to Croatia. This sounds like a perfect comfort dessert for them (asside from your pumpkin pie, which I’ll make them when the first week-long fog hits them – I’m sure they’ll need all the comfort they can get :/)
Thank you for sharing!!
Emma, any thoughts on how this would bake with a dairy free yogurt? From your experience with this cake do you think coconut oil would sub well for butter or do you think I need to use earth balance? Thank you in advance for sharing any hunch’s you have!
If one didn’t care for bananas in her coffee cake, if she left the bananas out would she need to sub anything in?
This looks so yum! I’ll have to try it out soon!
www.sundaydahlias.com
Which brown sugar, light or dark?
American coffee cake does not usually contain coffee but rather suggests that you would eat the cake with coffee. From wikipedia: “In the United States, coffee cake generally refers to a sweet cake intended to be eaten with coffee or tea (like tea cake).”
I haven’t thought about bundt pans in a long time. This is gorgeous.
Just reading the recipe, it seems like an awful lot of batter for a square pan. I can imagine it in a springform pan or two loaf pans. Just a thought. (Actually the voice of experience. I’ve done that – poured batter into a pan, realized I had too much, and had to transfer it to another pan. What a mess.) The recipe, however, looks great.