Banana Walnut Coffee Cake

We started making this for breakfast when we were able to buy an entire 40# case of ripe bananas for a super bargain price of only $8! We love the Bargain Grocery where deals like this are available Monday-Saturday.

With lots of bananas we needed a new way to use them. Enter the Banana Cake.

It takes a bit of time and effort to put this together...BUT....it freezes really well. Or it can sit out at room temperature, covered for 3 or 4 days.

Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x12 glass baking dish and set aside.

8 ounces unsalted butter

9 ounces all purpose flour (about 2 cups)

1 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup sugar (I always use organic cane juice)

1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large, but measure it)

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoons coffee liquor

Streusel Topping

1 cup toasted walnut (or pecans, almonds, etc)

1/2 cup all purpose or whole wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 ounces melted butter

Combine all of this in a small bowl to form moist crumbs. Set aside.

Coffee Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar (again, I prefer organic here)

3 Tablespoons heavy cream

1 Tablespoon coffee liquor

Mix all of this together to form a thick glaze while the cake is baking.

Method

This is called the Reverse Creaming Method. I use it most of the time now because it is faster and easier than the usual cream-the-butter-and-sugar method.

Combine all dry ingredients in mixer bowl, including the sugar.

Add the butter, cut into slices, into the dry and blend with the paddle attachment until it forms moist crumbs. If your butter is really soft, it may form a paste. This is ok.

Crack all of your eggs into a bowl and add vanilla and coffee liquor.

With mixer running on low speed, add eggs all at once and allow to combine with flour. Stop machine and scrap the sides and bottom to get all of the flour mixed with the eggs.

Add mashed banana and beat until well combined, about 30-60 seconds in a heavy duty mixer. Don't overbeat it.

It may look curdled at this point, but that's fine. It may look like a nice smooth cake batter and that's also fine.

Pour this into the prepared baking pan. Top evenly with streusel topping.

Bake in center of oven for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Set the pan on a rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Drizzle glaze evenly over partially cooled cake. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.