This streusel banana bread is made with espresso powder to enhance the fruity flavor of two mashed bananas and a buttery, spiced crumble topping. Vegetable oil & brown sugar in the batter keep it moist for days, but it never lasts past day one in our home!
Classic Banana Bread Gets an Upgrade with Cinnamon Streusel
My Dad taught me to bake banana bread as one of the first recipes I ever learned. Growing up in Germany, we never saw it in bakeries or grocery stores. It was purely a Dad-in-the-kitchen thing, and it filled the house with a smell I still associate with home. The thing about so many banana bread recipes though, is that they taste more like a sweet, sugary loaf than actual bananas. So when I set out to recreate my Dad's recipe, I had one goal, to make the banana flavor louder.
The trick turned out to be espresso powder. Bananas and coffee actually share some of the same floral, slightly caramelized notes, and a spoonful of espresso powder stirred into the batter doesn't make this taste like coffee cake. It just makes the bananas taste richer and more like themselves. And if you don't have espresso powder on hand, instant coffee powder worked in testing as a decent swap.
Then I topped the loaf with a crunchy cinnamon streusel, because if there's one thing German baking taught me, it's that a good streusel makes everything better. It's the same topping I use on my cinnamon apple streusel bread. And if you love a streusel-topped bake that's just sweet enough for breakfast but still feels like dessert, my German lightning cake is worth adding to your list.
My Dad always folds chocolate chips and chopped walnuts into his batter for extra crunch, and honestly, it's never a bad idea. I keep mine smooth most of the time so the banana-espresso flavor stays front and center, but the choice is yours.
Ingredients
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Unsalted butter
- Espresso powder
- Baking soda and Baking powder
- Salt
- Bananas
- Vegetable oil
- Brown sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Banana Streusel Bread
Banana Bread Tips from My Kitchen
- Use ripe or overripe bananas for the best flavor. The more brown spots on the bananas, the sweeter they will taste since starch converts to sugar as bananas ripen.
- Don't overmix your streusel, otherwise it could become gluey. Just mix until it resembles crumbly, wet sand.
- I recommend greasing your loaf pan and then lining it with parchment paper. Cut a long strip that covers the bottom & long sides and hangs over the edges. This makes it so easy to remove your baked bread from the pan.
Streusel Banana Bread
developed & tested by:
Equipment
Ingredients
Cinnamon Streusel
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
Banana Bread
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
- 2 overripe bananas (the more brown spots, the better)
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with butter or vegetable oil.
- Prepare the streusel by combining the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and softened butter in a mixing bowl. Use a large spoon, fork, or your hands to crumble the mixture into tiny pieces. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and espresso powder. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mash the peeled bananas with a fork. Add the vegetable oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and gently mix until there is no dry flour visible.
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan. Sprinkle the streusel on top.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a wooden skewer or knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out without any wet batter stuck to it. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer it to a cooling rack. Let it cool for at least another 10 minutes, then slice & enjoy!!
Notes
- Make sure your butter, eggs, and milk are all at room temperature before mixing the batter.
- Cover the top of the loaf with tin foil if the top starts to get brown before it's done baking. This will prevent the bread from getting too crispy.
- Store cooled streusel topped banana bread in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
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Natalie says
Does the recipe call for milk? I see in the notes it recommends using room temp milk. I made it without milk and it’s quite dry.
Noel says
I love quick breads so I gave this one a try and was not disappointed. The apple and spice flavor is great, and I want all my breads to have a streusel topping now.
Carissa Erzen says