MOIST BANANA BREAD COFFEE CAKE STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE IS THE BEST BANANA ANYTHING EVER!

MOIST BANANA BREAD COFFEE CAKE STUFFED WITH CREAM CHEESE IS THE BEST BANANA ANYTHING EVER!

This Banana Bread Coffee Cake is riddled with chocolate chips and walnuts (optional) with an INCREDIBLY creamy cream cheese filling all showered with Cinnamon Walnut Streusel and Vanilla Drizzle!

When I first posted my Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, I received comment from a reader that they were confused – nowhere in the recipe did it call for coffee?! I guess the term “coffee cake” is a widely popular American phrase for our cake-like sweet breads commonly served for breakfast/brunch and often with coffee, but not world-wide used. So I hope I don’t disappoint some of my readers when I tell you that this Coffee Cake does not have coffee – but it does have bananas, cream cheese, walnuts and chocolate chips!

This deliciously moist Cream Cheese Stuffed Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Coffee Cake is a banana bread lover’s dream! Actually, it is everyone’s dream because my husband was going crazy for this banana coffee cake, and he isn’t a banana bread type of guy. It tastes like sweet banana bread with bursts of chocolate, slight crunch of walnuts with a mega creamy cheesecake-like layer of cream cheese all topped with Cinnamon Walnut Streusel and a kiss of Vanilla Glaze. It is basically one of my favorite Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream’s – Chunky Monkey – in cake form. And I loooooove Chunky Monkey and now I loooooooove this cake!

Moist Banana Bread Coffee Cake stuffed with Cream Cheese is the best banana anything ever! This Banana Bread Coffee Cake is riddled with chocolate chips and walnuts (optional) with an INCREDIBLY creamy cream cheese filling all showered with Cinnamon Walnut Streusel and Vanilla Drizzle!

INGREDIENTS

Cinnamon Walnut Streusel

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

Banana Cake

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large ripe bananas)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sour ream (not nonfat)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup Reserved Batter (see instructions)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Glaze

• 1 cup Powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Garnish (optional)
• Garnish (optional)
• mini chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray all inside surfaces of a 16 cup nonstick tube pan with nonstick cooking spray WITH FLOUR or grease and flour the inside of your pan. Set aside.*
2. Cinnamon Walnut Streusel: Add walnuts to your food processor and pulse 3 times. Add flour, brown sugar and cinnamon and pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle cold butter over top and pulse until the walnuts are chopped and the mixture resembles small pebbles. (You may also combine in a bowl and cut butter in by hand). Set aside in the refrigerator.
3. Cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy on medium high speed, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until the yellow disappears after each egg. Mix in vanilla and bananas until just until combined.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to banana/butter mixture in thirds, alternately with sour cream in between each third. Beat until just combined. Measure out 1/4 cup batter and set aside for cream cheese filling. Stir chocolate chips and walnuts into remaining batter until just until combined.
6. Measure out 1 cup batter (to top cream cheese layer) and spoon the rest of the batter into the prepared pan.
7. To your now empty mixing bowl, add 1/4 cup reserved batter, cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup sugar. Beat on medium high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Spoon Cream Cheese Filling over batter and gently smooth, but do not touch the sides of the pan. Spread reserved 1 cup batter evenly over filling (it will be very thin).
8. Tap pan on counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles then sprinkle evenly with Cinnamon Walnut Streusel.
9. Bake for 55-60 minutes at 350 degrees F or until toothpick inserted comes out clean (without inserting in cream cheese). Let baked cake cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Gently invert cake onto a baking sheet, remove pan, and invert back onto cooling rack streusel side up. Let cool to room temperature.
10. When ready to serve, whisk Vanilla Glaze ingredients together in a medium bowl and drizzle over cake. Sprinkle cake with mini chocolate chips (optional)
11. Store in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

RECIPE NOTES

*A bundt cake pan will NOT work in this recipe because it does not have enough volume.

Recipe Source:carlsbadcravings.com