Banana Pecan Coffeecake (25 cents/serving)

Dark brown sugar and pecans add flavor, sweetness, and crunch to this Banana Pecan Coffeecake. It’s like all that’s delicious about banana and toffee rolled into one.

We’ve got several amazing coffee cake recipes. Be sure to try Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Love cinnamon? Check out our Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe.

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• Serving suggestions
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Freezing instructions
• Recipe Costs
• Banana Pecan Coffeecake Recipe

Do you go through a lot of bananas at house? It seems like you can never keep them on hand long enough. Between Monkey Salad and Magic Monkey Bananas, who could ever let bananas go to waste?!

That said, inevitably one can overbuy. Or just forget that there was a beautiful bunch of bananas on the counter just a few days ago.

When I’ve got a couple brown bananas, this coffeecake is one of my favorite things to bake up. This amazing, Banana Pecan Coffeecake that tastes like banana and toffee all rolled into one is sure to be a hit at your table. Freezer-friendly and highly packable, it makes for a great meal prep recipe.

Serving suggestions

Coffeecake is one of those misnomers. There’s no coffee in most coffeecake recipes. Rather, it’s often served with coffee as a breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Similar to Spiced Blueberry Coffeecake or Pumpkin Coffeecake with Pepitas, this version features whole grains and a toffee-nutty toppings, making it perfect for quick breakfasts. It’s easily packable alongside yogurt and a hard cooked egg.

This Banana Pecan Coffeecake recipe is also great for slipping into lunchboxes or serving as a casual dessert.

Ingredients

This is a typical coffeecake recipe calling for standard quick bread ingredients:

• flour – I like to use both all-purpose and white whole wheat—the latter to add a bit of hearty whole grains to the mix. You can use 2 cups of either if you prefer.
• sugar – While I’ve made this with granulated sugar, it tastes better with brown sugar which adds the toffee-like quality to it. Remember you can make your own brown sugar if you run out.
• butter – This is the fat in the cake as well as what helps the streusel topping get its crunch. You can also use margarine, oil, or coconut oil if that’s what you have on hand.
• baking powder – You can’t omit this. If you do, you will end up with a flatbread/cookie-like concoction. Not unpleasant, but decidedly not coffeecake. You can make your own baking powder if you run out.
• salt – Again, not something you can omit as salt adds texture and flavor to baked goods. Fortunately it’s pretty cheap.
• milk – I use regular milk, but you can use coconut, almond, oat, or soy milk as well as buttermilk.
• egg – You only need one, but if you run out, you can use flaxseed as an egg substitute.
• vanilla extract – This adds great flavor, but can be expensive. You can leave it out or use maple or rum extract instead. You can also use a teaspoon of straight rum as well. I promise it works.
• pecans – I love the combo of pecans and bananas, but you can use any nut you have on hand.

The distinctive of this recipe is, of course, bananas!

Bananas are also the perfect baking ingredient, making a lovely appearance in Chocolate Banana Marble Cake,  Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting or Coconut Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips. This coffeecake is a great way to showcase them.

That said, if you don’t have bananas, you can substitute banana baby food. Yes, really! It’s typically just bananas and lemon juice. So, if your baby has grown or won’t eat jarred banana, bake it into a cake! Patty cake, patty cake!

Instructions

I use a food processor to mix up this Banana Pecan Coffeecake, but you don’t have to. You can use a pastry blender if you prefer.

• In the processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, place the flours, sugar, and butter. Pulse several times until coarse crumbs are formed.
• Remove 1 cup of the crumbs and set this aside. Transfer the rest of the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the baking powder and salt to the bowl. Whisk to combine.
• Back in the processor bowl, add the bananas. Blend until smooth.
• Add the egg, milk, and vanilla extract to the processor. Blend until smooth.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and fold to combine.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
• Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the batter.
• Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the crumbs.
• Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool on a wired rack before serving.

Storage

Store the coffeecake in a covered container for up to 4 days at room temperature.

Freezing instructions

I love having grab-and-go snacks on hand in the freezer. Squares of banana coffeecake are prime candidates!

• Cut the cooled coffeecake into squares.
• Wrap each square in plastic wrap.
• Place the wrapped squares in a ziptop bag and store in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
• To serve: pull out as many as you’d like to serve and thaw at room temperature.

Recipe Costs

Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.

• all-purpose flour – $0.15
• white whole wheat flour – $0.22
• brown sugar – $0.72
• butter – $0.92
• bananas – basically made with bananas that are too ripe to eat fresh, so let’s count this as free!
• milk – $0.05
• egg – $0.25
• vanilla extract – $0.25
• baking powder – $0.02
• salt – $0.01
• nuts – $1.33

A large banana nut coffeecake costs $3.92 or 25 cents/serving. Commercial coffeecake ranges from 37 cents to 70 cents per serving. Bakery cakes will cost even more, making homemade a much more affordable option.

How you can save even more:

You can save even more with the Good Cheap Eats System! Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

• Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour and butter can help keep the price down.
• Buying in bulk – It’s rare that I would buy just one bag of flour. Instead I stock up when I see a sale. I also have gotten into the habit of buying cases of flour from Bob’s Red Mill or buying them in bulk from VitaCost. I practice the same bulk buying for spices and other baking ingredients.
• Check the produce clearance. Often times the grocery store finds itself with a surplus of overripe bananas. They are happy to unload them for cheap. Be sure that you snatch them up for a good price. (In my neck of the woods this would be about 50 cents a pound or less. Preferably less.)
• Omit the nuts. The pecans are the priciest ingredient in this recipe. You can omit them, buy them at a better price, or use a different nut. If you decide to purchase pecans, plan on using the rest of them in another recipe like Broccoli Cranberry Salad with Pecans.

Kitchen Equipment

This Banana Pecan Coffeecake recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.

Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:

• Silicone spatula/spoon – I have two or three of these – so convenient!
• 9×13-inch pan – I love the ones that come with plastic lids for easy storage and stacking in the freezer.
• food processor – I have had a food processor for 23 years and use it several times a week. It’s fantastic for making quick work of this recipe.

This post was originally published on August 7, 2018. It has been updated for content and clarity.