Banana Berry Coffee Cake

This Banana Berry Coffee Cake is great for breakfast or dessert. It has a perfect balance of bananas and juicy berries. The buttery crumb topping provides the right amount of crunch and sweetness.  

I always have excess sandwich bread. With warmer temps and the increasing humidity, things are starting to mold a little more This coffee cake is ideal for mornings when you don’t have time for a big breakfast or when you just want to grab and go. It’s also a great way to use bananas that would have gone to waste otherwise. 

The abundance of mashed bananas, berries, and sour cream provides great moisture. The crumb topping offers just the right amount of crunch, butteriness, and sweetness.  

How long will this cake last?

This cake is best refrigerated in an airtight container. It’s good for 5 or more days. The refrigeration also enables the streusel to remain crisp.

The cake can be stored at room temperature for a day. I recommend refrigerating it after one day if you want to prevent the crumb topping from becoming soft from the moisture of the cake. Make sure to place a paper towel over the top to absorb moisture and place it in an airtight container.

Recipe highlights:

• Mash bananas. Set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar. Add egg. Beat until well blended.

• Mix in sour cream, bananas, vanilla, and almond extracts. 

• Mix in dry ingredients.

• Combine flour, sugars, and melted butter to make the streusel (I forgot to add brown sugar in the photo below, hence the follow-up photo).

• Work mixture until crumbly.

• Place the batter and berries in a prepared baking pan in layers.
• Add the streusel topping.

• Bake at 350° F for about 45 minutes.
• See the recipe card below for detailed instructions.

What type of bananas to use?

Use soft, overripe bananas with lots of dark brown spots…the kind that you can smell from 10 feet away are the best. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration, more like 3 feet away. They provide the cake with optimal banana flavor, moistness, and sweetness. Less ripe bananas have less of all three.   

To always have overripe bananas at your disposal, freeze them. Peel and cut into chunks, then place in the freezer on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 2 hours or until frozen. Transfer into a plastic zip lock bag or air-tight container and freeze until ready to use. Be sure to defrost the chunks before you use them for the cake.

How to make bananas ripen faster?

If you don’t have any on hand, there are there are ways to speed up the ripening process:

• Place the bananas in a paper bag. Close the bag and place it in a warm area for 2 to 3 days to ripen. If you have greenish bananas, it will take longer. The bag helps trap in the ethylene gas the bananas naturally release and speeds up the process. Placing an apple or two in the bag also expedites ripening.
• For immediate ripening, bake them. Preheat oven to 300° F. Place bananas on a lined and rimmed baking sheet. Bake for roughly 30 minutes or until the bananas are soft and black. Allow to cool before peeling.

Recommended supplies:

(Affiliate links. The products I recommend are either what I use, are on my wish list, or come highly rated.)

• A 9-inch square cake pan—this one is non-stick aluminized steel with extended handles for easy grip.
• This green mixing bowl set has a non-slip base and a pour spout.
• Silicone spatula for scraping the mixing bowl.
• This Cuisinart handheld mixer has 9 speeds and comes with a storage case.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE THESE RECIPES

Disclosure: This site contains paid advertising and affiliate links. In Good Flavor is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.