Banana Cinnamon Bun Coffee Cake

Some things just call out your name. Sometimes it’s books that you can’t stop talking about, or clothes, that you just have to buy. And sometimes, it is all about recipes that you have to try out. You can actually imagine the way it would taste, the way it would smell, and you can’t rest, unless you’ve given it a try.

I cam across a recipe like this yesterday. It just called out to me. Banana Cinnamon Bun Coffee Cake. While I love baking breads, it gets difficult to fit it in my schedule. Especially these days when the moment daughter is out of the door, I have loads of work that I have to do. This recipe called for yeast, but not as much waiting time. And that made all the difference. Plus the flavours – banana and cinnamon – perfect combination of flavours. The recipe called for nutmeg, which I did not have at home, and was too lazy to buy, so I just made it without, and it’s absolutely perfect! The aroma flooded the kitchen while it was being baked, and what a gorgeous, gorgeous combination it was!

And yes, I had another reason to bake this cake. I hadn’t baked for ages, absolutely ages, you see. This recipe called for a 9 inch pan, of which I had a brand new one, sitting unused since it was bought over a year ago. What better excuse to use it, yes?

The recipe calls for the cake to cook for 30 minutes before cutting it. That, I have to say was the most difficult part. Daughter would not let me wait. She had to get a slice of it as soon as possible. She’s taken a slice to school. I normally do not pack cakes or biscuits for snack time. I try to keep it as healthy as possible. But today, she just so wanted it, that I could not say a ‘no’ 🙂

So here’s the recipe that I followed. I made a few(very few changes), amd a few mistakes.

Ingredients

For the Dough
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
1/4 cup warm milk (100-110F; low fat is fine)
2 medium bananas mashed up
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

For the filling
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 170 C.
Lightly grease and flour a 9 inch pan. I did not have parchment paper, so just greased and floured it.
In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients
Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and wait for it to froth.
Once the yeast is foamy, add the yeast, mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla and the oil to the flour mixture and combine well until smooth.
Pour the dough into the prepared pan, and let it rest for 15 minutes.
In the meanwhile, mix the ingredients for the topping, with a fork, until it is a crumbly mixture.
Sprinkle the mixture on top of the dough, and run a spatula or a fork to distribute it through.
Let the dough rise for about 20 minutes. (I let it rise for longer, I had to run out for an errand, and it rose for almost 40 minutes, and I think that made all the topping sink)
Bake for around 30 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Let it cool for about 30 minutes, which I tell you, is the most difficult part. If you can’t wait, just dig in, as soon as it is cool enough to cut 🙂 It still tastes great 🙂 And next time, I might try adding some pecans to the topping.