Soft, moist, perfectly sweet banana coffee cake baked with strawberries and the perfect cinnamon crumb topping that just happens to be healthy! Grain free, dairy free, and Paleo with no refined sugar, this Strawberry Banana Coffee Cake is comfort food for any time of day.
Raise your hand if you just don’t love coffee cake. If you just raised your hand, um, WTF is wrong with you?! But really, everyone loves a good coffee cake with cinnamon crumb topping, no? Am I the only one who still has the vivid taste of Entenmanns crumb coffee cake in my head/mouth whenever this subject comes up?
Coffee cake with cinnamon crumb topping is one of life’s ultimate comfort foods in my opinion. It’s right up there with chocolate and bacon, although I wouldn’t be stupid enough to put those 3 things together (even if I saw maple bacon cake at the store recently, I dunno, just not feeling all that into it.)
Anyway, SOME things are best left uncombined. Strawberries and bananas don’t fit in that category, and if you try to tell me strawberries and coffee cake DO fall into the “do not combine” category , well then of course I’ll have to kill you. But first, you’ll have one last chance to try out this cake and change your mind.
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I’d like strawberries baked into a coffee cake. But see, I had quite a few extra strawberries and figured I’d see what I could do. We are not dealing with advanced calculus and I’m not trying to recreate the wheel here after all, but rather make a grain free and Paleo banana coffee cake with the addition of strawberries that does not suck. At all. So I took the risk.
I already made berry almond breakfast bars that worked out, along with banana coffee cake muffins that I wouldn’t mind eating daily for the rest of my life. This was not a far cry – NEWSFLASH – my recipes are all just spins on one another – NEWSFLASH #2 – because that is the way cooking and baking work. And that’s also what makes it fun, easy to experiment with and ultimately something I enjoy doing with my time. Plus the eating part, that is a damn good part.
So let’s see, before you embark on this strawberry banana coffee cake journey into the unknown, is there anything you need to know? My only caveat would be to use nice ripe sweet strawberries if you’re using fresh ones, since you’re baking them right into the cake. And if you’re using frozen, make sure to defrost and really get all the water out prior to mixing them in to avoid a soggy, sad cake.
The other note is on the topping. As with any crumb topping, very cold coconut oil, butter, or ghee will produce the best result. You can use a food processor to blend, but I personally prefer blending it old-school with a pastry blender or fork. It takes longer, but I have more control, which I like.
I also wound up broiling my topping right at the end of baking to get it to brown just a bit more, but that is totally optional. As for eating and storing, I found the cake had the best texture after completely cooling and then chilling in the fridge for a while. It’s perfect to make ahead of time and seems to taste even better the next day! Let’s get started!
Strawberry Banana Coffee Cake with Crumb Top {Paleo}
Strawberry Banana Coffee Cake with Crumb Top {Paleo}
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 over-ripe medium banana mashed
- 1/4 cup creamy almond butter
- 1/3 cup organic coconut sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/3 cups blanched almond flour
- 2 tbsp tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch fine grain sea salt
- 3/4-1 cup chopped fresh sweet strawberries*
For the Crumb Topping
- 1/4 cup COLD coconut oil refined to avoid coconut flavor, ghee, or pastured unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 3/4 cup blanched almond flour
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup organic coconut sugar
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8 x 8 inch baking dish or standard round cake pan with parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, eggs, almond butter, coconut sugar and vanilla until smooth. In another bowl, combine the almond and tapioca flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
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Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until combined, then stir in the chopped strawberries. Pour into the parchment lined baking dish and set aside while you make the crumb topping.
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For the crumb topping, either in a food processor or with a fork or pastry blender, combine the cold coconut oil (or butter or ghee) with the almond flour, coconut sugar and cinnamon until a thick, crumbly yet pasty mixture forms. Sprinkle this mixture in a nice thick layer over the top of the cake prior to baking.
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Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown. For extra browning on top, you can turn on the broiler for 30 second - 1 minute at the end of baking**
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Remove cake from oven and cool completely before serving. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*If using frozen, defrost and drain well before chopping.
**If your crumb topping needs more browning time, turn on the broiler and closely watch it so the topping does not burn!
What’s your old favorite Entenmanns treat?
What’s one of life’s ultimate comfort foods?
What are your weekend plans?
See, I love strawberries, so while I would never think to put them in a coffee cake, I also do not dislike the idea. I love putting a spin on the classics with a slightly (but not too crazy) flavor 🙂
Agree not too crazy, strawberry banana is like a tame twist on coffee cake 🙂
I LOVED the mini-powdered donuts.
Powdered donuts never did it for me but anything chocolate covered or cinnamon was a done deal 🙂
You always have the best baked goods! You’re lucky we don’t live closer or I’d be inviting myself over for coffee and cake ALL the time 😉 Haha! xo
I loved anything entenmann’s although the chocolate chip cookies held a special place in my heart. I live in TX now so haven’t seen it in quite a bit, do they even make Entenmann’s anymore?
Im SWOONING over this coffee cake perfection! The strawb-nana combo is out of this world!
Oh my, I love coffee cake. I am drooling! 🙂