Blueberry banana coffee cake is an incredibly moist, buttery and easy-to-make coffee cake.
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I love adding almond flour to bakes and pancakes as it adds great flavour and texture. This coffee cake made with a portion of almond flour is soft and tender with full of fresh blueberries, ripe bananas and sliced almonds. Best served with your morning coffee, as an evening snack or just skip the coffee and have the cake! 😍
Does a coffee cake have coffee in it?
I too had this very question whenever I see "Coffee Cake" mentioned but no coffee listed in the ingredients. Laura Vitale explained in one of her episodes that a coffee cake is a sweet dish served with black coffee. Simple as that!
Upon reading further about this often-misleading name, I learnt that a classic coffee cake will have some kind of crumb toppings like streusel and or a sugar glaze or both. This can be baked even in a square or rectangular pan that holds the cinnamon-flavoured crumbs beautifully.
So no, a coffee cake need not have coffee, but if you do make a cake with coffee for the flavour, then you won't need coffee to go with it. Do you know what I mean? 🙂
Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake
I had an overly ripe banana, the sight of which switched on the baking button in me. Quickly glanced through the fridge to see if anything else needs to be used up - there! a box of blueberries that I got at a good discount. Banana and Blueberry is a well-known pairing but I didn't want to bake another loaf of bread again. I know, almost all my previous bakes have been loaf or muffin! 🤣
Next, I scanned the pantry and found a bottle of almond flour (remember my keto stint?) So now I have a picture – a Blueberry, Banana, and Almond flour round cake.
Who can have this cake?
This deliberately lowered-carb Blueberry Banana Almond Flour coffee cake is perfect for those who don't mind indulging but want to feel less guilty. 😆 You won't feel too guilty because I have reduced the calories way down by using less sugar and almond flour and skipping the crumb. But this is in no way a healthy version or any of the fancy diet-friendly. And of course, mind your allergies and tweak the recipe as needed. I have provided substitution options down below.
Ingredients and substitution
- Flour: I have used an equal amount of all-purpose flour and almond flour. If you don't have almond flour, you can replace it with all-purpose flour or wheat flour or oats flour.
- Leavening agent: Both baking powder and baking soda are essential.
- Salt: A pinch will help bring the flavours out. If you are using salted butter then skip this salt.
- Sugar: I have used only ⅔ cups of granulated sugar so the cake is not overly sweet but the sweetness comes from ripe bananas too. You may increase it to 1 cup or make a crumb or glaze for extra sweetness.
- Unsalted butter: Only room-temperature butter should be used. Don't try to melt it to bring it to room temperature. Let the butter block sit on the counter for 1 to 2 hours.
- Egg: A whole large egg at room temperature.
- Banana: 1 medium-sized very ripe banana. If you don't have a banana, then add another egg. If you plan to use an egg instead of a banana, then increase the sugar to 1 cup.
- vanilla extract: pure or essence
- Milk: full-fat cow's milk. You may replace it with buttermilk.
- Labneh: You may replace it with sour cream or thick-hung yoghurt - do not skip this.
- Fresh blueberries
- Sliced almonds
- vanilla sugar: for dusting
How to make it?
You will just need two bowls and a whisk to whip up the batter for this cake. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature which is the most important factor to make this cake. Bake the coffee cake for 40 to 50 minutes. Bake until the cake feels springy when you gently press the middle and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. If the top start to get too brown before the cake is done, tent the top of the cake loosely with aluminium foil.
I contemplated adding a crumb topping to make it more like the classic coffee cake, but I loved the look of the berries and almonds studded so much that I couldn’t stand the thought of covering them up. So, I skipped even the glaze but you may add that for a richer taste.
Storage
Coffee cake can be made one day ahead and kept covered at room temperature for at least 2 days. As we have a banana in the cake, as with all banana treats, this one also gets better the next day. Almond flour gives this moist cake a nutty flavour, while the slivered almonds and a sprinkling of vanilla sugar add an extra sweet note. You may freeze or refrigerate any leftovers to last longer.
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Large bowl items
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Medium bowl items
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- 100 grams unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup full-fat milk
- ¼ cup full-fat labneh or sour cream or thick-hung yoghurt
- ¾ to 1 cup blueberries washed, drained and pat dried
- ¼ cup almonds use slivered
Instructions
Prep
- Keep all the wet ingredients measured on the counter so that they can come to room temperature. Preheat t oven to 190C (375F) with the rack on level 2. Grease an 8-inch springform (see notes) or a round cake pan lightly with butter (you may line the bottom with baking paper).
Prepare the cake batter
- Whisk together in a large bowl all of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and keep aside. Add the butter and sugar to another bowl and whisk with a hand whisk or electric whisk until creamy. Add the mashed banana, egg and vanilla and whisk thoroughly until combined. Stir in the milk and labneh and whisk again until a smooth batter. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined (the batter will be thin but almond flour will absorb). Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and tap on the counter to break any air bubbles.
Bake the cake
- Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Open the door and quickly scatter the blueberries and almonds all over the top, close and continue to bake for another 25 minutes or until the toothpick test comes out clean. If the top starts to brown faster, then cover the cake pan with foil and continue to bake until done.
Cool and serve
- Remove the cake pan and let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack until the sides release (10 minutes). Run a blunt side knife around the tin before removing the ring. Sprinkle icing sugar before serving with coffee or tea
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!