Cream Cheese gives this banana coffee cake a creamy swirl and decadent texture. Nutmeg, cinnamon and orange juice bring an irresistible flavor to everyone’s beloved moist banana cake.
OK, don’t faint…but I baked. This coffee cake was a result of a kitchen day planned for last Sunday with its prediction of an eight-inch Spring snow storm. As I type this, we recovered nicely, had beautiful Spring temperatures during the week and the prediction for today is a good old fashioned afternoon thunderstorm. Perhaps our snow days are behind us?
Before we get to the recipe, I want to point out my cake plate.
It was my mom’s and it lived on our kitchen counter while I was growing up on the farm. My mom baked daily. And she baked several things daily. She’d bake after breakfast and after my father had left to work in the field.
This cake plate always displayed either a cake, a pie, coffee cake or cupcakes. And next to it was a tray of cookies, or a flat cake or another pie.
Our house was a stopping point for farmers heading to and from the fields, or wives delivering lunches to them in the fields, and you could always count on Pastor Sam to stop by.
No invitation was ever needed. Visitors who dropped in were greeted with a cup of coffee and a plate of the dessert of their choice and we’d sit at our long dining room table for a chat before everyone returned to their routines. That’s just one of the things I miss about Kansas farm life.
The mountain of fruit that had accumulated on the kitchen counter included three bunches of bananas that were nearing the point of no return.
I had to either serve a complete dinner of bananas or bake them into something scrumptious.
This cake recipe was to the rescue. We had Tangerine Braised Chicken for dinner and this Creamy Banana Coffee Cake for dessert. It comes from one of our Junior League of Denver cookbooks, Creme de Colorado.
Recipe for Cream Cheese Banana Coffee Cake
The cake’s special because hiding in the middle is layer of cream cheese that’s been whipped into bliss with sugar, eggs and nutmeg.
With chopped pecans and typical coffee cake flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg, this is a moist and delicious cake that will have your neighbors ringing that doorbell. Don’t forget to have that percolator plugged in.
What desserts go well with coffee? Here are some more ideas.
- Orange Pound Cake with Sugared Cranberries Moist, dense yet fine textured, this pound cake recipe is flavored with grated orange zest and fresh squeezed orange juice.
- Old Fashioned Banana Nut Bread. This is a good old fashioned banana nut bread recipe made with buttermilk. Easy quick bread that’s dense, moist and full of banana flavor.
- French Butter Cake Madeleine Recipe. Madeleines are light and lemony and simple to make if you follow the directions carefully. You’ll be rewarded with unique little cakes that are a little crispy on the outside and spongy on the inside.
- Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. Golden and lightly crisped, these twice-baked cranberry pistachio biscotti are perfect for that morning cup of coffee.
And if you’re looking for more dessert recipes, don’t miss my Dessert Category. You’ll find lots of recipes to satisfy that sweet tooth, including the most popular recipe on my site for Cream Cheese Flan. Check it out.
Creamy Banana Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 6 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons hot water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 medium ripe bananas mashed
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeat, beating until smooth. Add 1 egg and beat again. Set mixture aside.
- Cream 1/2 cup butter, gradually adding 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat well. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each. Combine soda and hot water and add to creamed mixture, stirring until well blended.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with orange juice. Stir in vanilla, bananas and pecans. Spoon 1 1/2 cups of the banana batter into lightly greased 10 inch tube pan. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over batter. Spoon remaining banana batter over cream cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 – 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes before removing to a rack to finish cooling.
- Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar combined with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
- Garnish with whole pecans or walnuts to finish.
Nutrition
Creamy Banana Coffee Cake…It’s what’s for Company.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
This is amazing! I’m always looking for banana bread (muffins) recipes and am glad you shared your family recipe with us. It is a must try! I also love the savory and Mexican inspired recipes you have!
Thanks Mira. And thanks for stopping in. Always love new visitors.
This looks dreamy! I have some rotten bananas, and I was just thinking of what I would use them on. I think this is the recipe! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Kloe. I’m not a baker and I was able to make this beautiful coffee cake. Enjoy. And thanks for stopping in and the comment.
That’s a beaut of a cake, Lea Ann. Aren’t Junior League cookbooks the best?
Also fascinated by your ground turkey investigation. Good heavens, who would have thought?
I agree about those Jr. League Cookbooks. Love em. Thanks Barbara
I love the title ‘creamy’ grabbed my attention. The cream cheese in the recipe is always a plus. Unfamiliar with the hot water and soda deal too. Soooooo I tagged this recipe. As others have also noted, it looks delicious—make that double delicious. Naaaa—-triple delicious—-and that’s my last offer.
That hot water and soda thing was new to me too. But then again, I’m not familiar with the chemistry involved in baking. I agree with that triple delicious. We enjoyed this recipe.