This lightened-up cinnamon sugar banana coffee cake uses bananas and Greek yogurt to add flavour and moisture to a delicious cake that’s healthy enough to enjoy for breakfast!
There are two types of people in this world: cake people and frosting people. And I am most definitely a cake people. Err… person.
It’s not that I don’t like frosting (okay, I kind of don’t like frosting); I just don’t like it as much as I like cake. This is why I prefer muffins to cupcakes, whipped cream to buttercream, and why I’ll usually leave the frosting hanging out on the plate while I go back for another slice of cake — sweet carby doughiness just makes me weak in the knees.
And the funny thing is that I’ve always been this way — even back in the day when my sweet tooth was a whole heck of a lot more insatiable. I used to boast about how nothing was too sweet for me, and while I wouldn’t necessarily say that frosting is too sweet, it was never my jam. A texture thing, maybe? I’ve never been big on cheesecakes for the same reason.
But things like muffins, cookies, donuts, brownies, and [minimally-frosted] cakes? Yes. Please. Thank you. MORE.
So what’s all that have to do with today’s recipe?
Well, today’s recipe happens to be a particular kind of cake. A coffee cake… which is a cake that you can serve with coffee (or tea) that may or may not actually have coffee in it (this one doesn’t).
Honestly, I have no idea how it differs from a muffin or a quick bread other than the shape of the pan you pour it in, but hey… it’s sweet, it’s doughy, it’s [frosting-less], and it’s eaten with coffee in tow — you’re not going to find me calling it out on naming issues.
You will find me repeatedly standing over my kitchen counter picking away at “slivers, edges, and ugly pieces,” though… all in the name of experimentation, obviously…
So let’s talk deets, shall we?
As with most of my other recipes, I made this one healthier for you guys without sacrificing on taste, and I did that by using two of my favourite ingredients to bake with — bananas and Greek yogurt.
That combo is killer when it comes to lightening up baked goods while still keeping them soft, tender, and flavourful. Seriously killer. But this recipe is a little bit different in that it doesn’t call for adding mashed bananas to the actual dough. Instead, they’re sliced and layered between the batter and sprinkled with a little bit of cinnamon and coconut sugar.
The result is a ridiculously soft cake that tastes like bananas and cinnamon with subtle caramel undertones. The actual banana slices add a nice caramelly feel to the texture, and the cinnamon-sugar streusel topping is just the icing on the cake. You can totally leave it off if you don’t feel like taking the extra step — the cake is still amazing without it — but it definitely adds a nice little boost to the flavour and texture.
Other than that, there’s not much else to say besides bon appetit! I know there’s a few more steps in this recipe than there are in my others, but don’t let that scare you — it couldn’t be easier, and the result is definitely worth the extra 5 minutes.
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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Cinnamon Sugar Banana Coffee Cake
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the crumble topping:
- 1/2 cup (60 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) coconut oil, melted
- 3 Tbsp (36 g) coconut palm sugar*
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the cake:
- 2 Tbsp (24 g) coconut palm sugar*
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (60 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (60 g) whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup (70 g) plain Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1/4 cup (80 g) honey**
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 small/medium bananas, thinly sliced (about 200 g)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325F (163C) and prepare an 8×8 (20x20cm) baking dish by lining it with a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving a few inches of overhang on the sides to allow for easy removal. Spray the foil with cooking spray and set aside.
- Prepare topping by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl and mixing well. The texture will be crumbly and dry, so use your hands if you’re having trouble getting it to mix. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg, Greek yogurt, almond milk, honey, and vanilla. Stir until fully combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently stir to combine. Do not over mix.
- Pour half of the batter into your prepared pan, using a spatula to spread it out evenly. It might seem like there’s not enough in there, but it will rise quite a bit when it bakes.
- Lay half of the sliced bananas (so, 1 banana) across the top of the batter. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture (not the topping!) over the bananas, and repeat with the remaining batter, bananas, and cinnamon-sugar. Finally, sprinkle the topping on the very top, spreading it out evenly.
- Bake for 25 minutes, until topping begins to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for about 20 minutes before removing and allowing to finish cooling on a cooling rack.
Notes
* can also be subbed with brown sugar. ** can also be subbed with agave nectar or maple syrup.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
Keywords: banana coffee cake, cinnamon sugar coffee cake, coffee cake, healthy coffee cake
Looking for more recipes using Greek yogurt? Try one of these!
Greek Yogurt Banana Bread
Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Pancakes
Blueberry Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
One Bowl Greek Yogurt Blueberry Banana Bread
I love that you also threw in banana. It goes great with cinnamon stuff.
Mmmm..it looks soo tasty!
★★★★★
So since this is cinnamon sugar it’s basically a snicker doodle banana coffee cake? this sounds amazing!
Snickerdoodle.banana.coffee.cake. Oh my 😯
On this one I think I can be leaning on one or the other depending on the day. I would say I am 60% cake and 40% frosting.
I, for example, love the frosting on the carrot cake, but I am not a big fun of cupcake, too much frosting there. I like the idea of the banana here. Good job 🙂
Cake! You described my feelings toward frosting perfectly. And I need to buy a whole extra set of bananas just to bake with – you have SO many delicious-looking banana recipes and I eat so many that I never have them around long enough to ripen (rot?) properly 😛
I have the same problem! Especially in the winter when the cold weather makes bananas ripen extra slow 😡
Wow. This looks incredible! I’ll have to try it soon 🙂 Thanks for the yummy (and healthy!) recipe.
I love coffee cakes, although I tend to prefer the sweet crispy, crunchy, sugary topping. Oh yeah, I am a frosting girl, which means we should always eat cake together. I’ll take the majority of your frosting and you can have the majority of my cake. Deal?
The sliced bananas on the inside was a stroke of genius. I love it.
I’ll eat cake with you any time <3 As long as it's peanut-free.
I read this in the car driving home this morning and I’ve thought about it and drooled the whole car ride home! I even came home to some ripe bananas. Win Win! Basically anything with cinnamon sugar in it works for me!
WoW! Another delicious looking recipe! I love to make my grandmother’s coffee cake for special occasions (Christmas, my Dad’s birthday, snow days!) but it’s so heavy that I don’t end up eating very much of it. Which is just sad because it’s delicious. I’m certainly going to give this a try – I love a good cinnamon crumb topping and anything with bananas is a winner in my book! I made your vegan banana chocolate chip cookies last week (adapted to be gluten free) and they were fantastic – won over all three {typically picky} kids!
http://www.javaandsole.com/friday-grab-bag-cookies-and-more/
Yay! I’m glad that you and your family liked them, Brandi! And I love that you made them GF. It can be so tricky with cookies.
On icing, it depends how sweet it is. It was someone’s birthday at work today and they bought in 3 cakes. One was red velvet with a cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese was delicious and perfectly sweet.
Cream cheese frosting actually usually gets the pass from me as well. I think it’s because it’s a little more tart to balance out the sweetness.
Honestly? I’m not a cake person at all. Not even up for muffins. Chocolate, ice cream, mousse – yes, please. But THIS cake? Well, sign me up. With that topping it reminds me of a mix of my grandma’s ‘Butterkuchen’ and ‘Bienenstich’ only adding bananas makes it even more appealing. If I figure out a way to sub the egg [flax?] I might actually try it .. .says the non-cake person.
I am NOT a frosting person. It is so sickeningly sweet. I would much rather have extra cake than eat the cake and icing 🙂
I hear ya loud and clear, girl!
This looks delicioius – and I’m not even a coffee cake person! I love cake and frosting – but only on special occassions. Ever since I mostly cut out processed sugar from my diet, I don’t need a lot of sweets to satistfy my sweet tooth. However, I always crave a big veggie and fruit smoothie bowl for breakfast or oatmeal with melted chocolate chips, so I’d give myself a solid 6 😀
holy cow this is literally food porn. haha it looks so delicious and decadent!
Talk about mouth watering! This looks so good and I am definitely going to try it!
I feel like I have a sweet tooth, but it has “matured” over the years. I could eat my body weight in fruit (or more!) but if something is sickeningly sweet… It doesn’t appeal to me anymore. Oreos, pop-tarts, etc. just do not taste good to me anymore. Whipped frosting, on the otherhand, is my weakness! None of the buttercream stuff. Whipped and light and fluffy and UGH… I die.
It’s the same for me! I definitely can’t sweets like I used to, but fruits are a whole other story. I’ve already suffered some melon babies this year 😛
I am a cake and LOTS of frosting kind of gal…I love cupcakes and cakes that have extra frosting and I usually save it for the last bite. 🙂 I love sweets, but I try to keep that craving under control, because I can eat and eat a lot. HA!
Ditto! I blame the second dessert stomach 😛
Oh deliciousness. I must say, I’m a cake AND frosting type of person. And coffee cake never gets the love it deserves. This looks absolutely mouth-watering! Good one, Amanda!
This is magical and now I want it. My mom made cakes as a side business so I got very spoiled to her homemade buttercream icing. I also got a little burnt out on cake even though hers is delicious. I will have it every once in awhile, but not all the time. I am more of a brownie/cookie/cheesecake girl these days. Coffee cake is also in there too 🙂
Ok, one more point why we should be sisters AND live together: I LOVE frosting and I would totally let you eat the cake. I used to freeze Momma’s chocolate cake so I could nibble off easier the frosting.
And hey – that banana layer method is brilliant. I need to copy that.
Seriously feel as though I am in a top notch bakery in Paris, staring into the display of pastries. I have never been a huge fan of bananas or banana flavored treats, however this is making me question my morals. Coffee cake + banana = perfection (and it is healthy too!). I want. NOW.
Thank you for just giving me the biggest craving for an eclair. Or a croissant. With a warm latte on the side.
Gimme, gimme! Looks fantastic!
Coffee cake is the best cake! I’m neither a cake person nor a frosting person, but if I had to choose, it would definitely be cake. I can’t wait to try this! 😀
I am definitely a cake person! Sometimes I’ll scrape off part of the icing because it’s just too much. But I love a good coffee cake and this one looks so dreamy! I can tell it has the perfect soft doughy texture too…mmmm. Pinned!
Can I be a cake and a frosting person? Is that an option? You just took coffee cake to a whole new level–this looks SO good. Pinning!
cinnamon, coffee, breakfast…my three favourite words!!
Oh Have mercy! That top layer! I cannot even.. and all those pictures…you are torturing me….only way to stop is to just send me a slice! You’ve still reading your comments, right??? No – don’t read anymore – they’ll be hear…but I might swallow my tastebuds…hurry!
Seriously – this is one killer coffee cake – seriously, those close up pictures are torturous!
🙂
I hate to admit this – but, during my college years I would eat the frosting/icing and pass on the cake – these days though my sweet tooth doesn’t crave a sweet that’s like a 20 on a scale from 0-10. Some folks loose their memory…some, their sweet tooth…GAH!!!
I noticed that as well with my sweet tooth! I actually never thought it would happen since I loved sugar so much, but the older I get, the less it takes to satisfy.
I like baking with bananas but only if you can’t taste the actually banana cooked in. I don’t care for the taste and texture of bananas though. Coffee cake I love, especially with cinnamon!
YUM- love this combo…coffee in baked goods is always a win, Amanda! My sister comes to town next weekend and I know this has her name all over it- bookmarking it to make for her. And like you I am definitely a cake person- I rather scrape off the icing and go straight to the good stuff. Unless of course we’re talking about carrot cake- then the cream cheese frosting needs to be present in each bite for the ultimate flavour explosion! As for my sweet tooth, it’s definitely gone down since I started eating savoury breakfasts so I’d probably rate it as a 4/borderline 5!
Cream cheese frosting is actually one that I don’t mind as well — probably because it’s a little more tart and less sweet.
As soon as I saw the title of this post, I said to myself: “MAKING IT.” Seriously, this looks like the cake of my dreams.
I am a frosting person, but there has to be that just-right ratio. Frosting can definitely be sickeningly sweet, so a little goes a long way. I do prefer muffins with nut butter though 🙂
What about cake AND frosting? Haha. I do actually prefer the cake portion of cakes, but cupcakes I like the frosting. Which makes no sense because they are the exact same thing, just in a different shape. Haha. And I have a 10 for a sweet tooth. Honestly, if I was craving sugar and my only option was a sugar cube I would shamelessly eat it. Thanks for sharing the recipe… looks and sounds absolutely delicious!
★★★★★
Confession: I’ve eaten sugar cubes on more than one occasion. And drank honey straight from the honey bear pot.
This looks absolutely incredible! It combines all my favorites – cinnamon sugar, bananas, and Greek yogurt! I will definitely be trying out this recipe the first chance I get!
I’m definitely a frosting girl (I was the kid who just wanted to eat all those icing flowers off the cake top and leave the rest!) but this looks too delicious not to try!
Oh, I like the sliced banana idea! You’re so clever. That would taste amazing! I don’t like frosting either. I do have a sweet tooth but just when it comes to chocolate. I’m not a cake or ice cream person. I do like candy, but not much and not often. I don’t like how it makes my teeth feel like they’re wearing little tooth sweaters.
😆 Tooth sweaters. That’s actually the perfect way to describe it. I usually just call them ‘mossy’ 😛
Looks so, so good! I have such a weakness for coffee cake, but probably haven’t had it in years. I like the idea of bananas. I think this is one I’m definitely going to have to try this week!
Frosting, all the way. Frosting is the only reason I eat cake…I love this recipe. I made something super similar and forgot all about it! I think I added apples to the mix — I had made it for my parents and they loved it and, um, I never made it again but I meant to!
My mom used to make one with apples that I’d go absolutely crazy for. I keep forgetting how much I like these coffee/crumb cakes.
I’m totally with you on the cake vs icing thing – always have been! The exception? Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll icing. Freaking delish!
I’m a cake over frosting person and love muffins because of that, but cinnamon crumb topping is a whole ‘nother story! I die for it, in fact it was one of the first paleo baking experiments I did. Cinnamon coffee cake just rocks, and this is making me hungry for breakfast #2, or breakfast dessert, either one 🙂
I love that you realize that breakfast dessert is a thing <3
Oh man, this looks good. I love coffee cake, especially the crumbly topping. I like frosting, but I can only handle a little of it, so I’d probably say I like cake more. I can go weeks without really craving sweets, then out of nowhere I’ll want to eat ALL the cookies.
Oh wow! This looks delicious. Coffee crumb cakes like this were my favorite growing up. I have rarely seen a healthy recipe to re-create it. Look forward to trying these out!
I have pretty fond memories of them as well! My mom actually used to make one with apples that was out.of.this.world.