Sarra Ina Garten’s chocolate banana crumb cake is a moist banana cake topped with a chunky streusel of bittersweet chocolate, brown sugar, cinnamon, and sliced almonds. It serves 9, bakes in about 40 minutes, and comes from her Make It Ahead cookbook.
Ina says that when they tested this recipe, “we all couldn’t stop eating it! The combination of banana, chocolate, and streusel is irresistible.” The sour cream in the batter keeps it dense and moist, and the banana flavor comes through strong because she uses 3 to 4 very ripe bananas.
The streusel is what makes this Ina’s version and not just another banana cake. You pinch the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until you get rough crumbles, then fold in chopped bittersweet chocolate so you get melty pockets of chocolate baked right into the topping. Skip the chocolate and it’s just a coffee cake.
Ina Garten’s Chocolate Banana Crumb Cake
Course: Desserts, BreakfastCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy9
servings20
minutes45
minutes450
kcalA soft, sour cream banana cake baked in a square pan with a thick layer of cinnamon chocolate streusel and almonds on top. Wrap it up overnight and it tastes even better the next day.
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
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1/4 lb (1 stick / 115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
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3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
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1 extra-large egg, at room temperature
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1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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1 1/2 cups (340g) mashed banana (3 to 4 very ripe bananas)
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1/4 cup (60ml) sour cream
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1 1/2 cups (195g) all-purpose flour
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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3/4 teaspoon baking soda
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1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- For the Streusel Topping:
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3/4 cup (150g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
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1/2 cup (65g) all-purpose flour
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1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
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1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
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4 tablespoons (1/2 stick / 57g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
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6 oz (170g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
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3 tablespoons sliced blanched almonds
Directions
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Prep the pan: Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease and flour an 8x8x2-inch square baking pan.
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Cream the butter and sugar: In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl.
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Add the wet ingredients: With the mixer on low, beat in the egg, vanilla, mashed banana, and sour cream until combined. Don’t worry if it looks curdled.
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Add the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
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Make the streusel: In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter. Pinch the ingredients together with your fingers until the mixture forms rough crumbles. Add the chopped chocolate and toss to combine.
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Top and bake: Distribute the streusel evenly over the batter. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool and serve: Let the cake cool in the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.
FAQs
Why does Ina use sour cream in this cake?
Sour cream adds moisture and fat without making the batter too thin. It’s the reason this cake stays soft and dense instead of drying out after a day on the counter.
It also adds a slight tang that balances the sweetness of the bananas and brown sugar streusel. You’ll see sour cream in Ina’s banana recipes across multiple cookbooks because it works so well with ripe banana flavor.
How ripe should the bananas be?
Very ripe, with peels that are mostly brown or spotted. Ina uses 3 to 4 bananas to get 1 1/2 cups mashed.
She mashes them on a cutting board with a dinner fork rather than in a bowl. This gives you a slightly chunkier mash that keeps some texture in the cake instead of turning completely smooth.
Green or yellow bananas won’t mash easily and the cake will taste starchy instead of sweet.
Can you make this chocolate banana crumb cake ahead?
Yes. Ina specifically designed this for her Make It Ahead cookbook.
Bake the cake, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and let it sit at room temperature overnight. The streusel stays crunchy on top and the cake gets even more moist as it rests.
It keeps well for 2 to 3 days wrapped at room temperature. Don’t refrigerate it because the cold firms up the butter in the streusel and dries out the crumb.
What kind of chocolate should you use for the streusel?
Bittersweet, chopped into rough pieces. Don’t use chocolate chips because they’re designed to hold their shape and won’t melt into those soft, gooey pockets the way chopped bar chocolate does.
Ina calls for 6 oz (170g), which is about one standard bar. Chop it unevenly so you get a mix of big chunks and smaller shards. The big pieces create melty pools and the small ones blend into the crumble.
Semisweet works if that’s what you have, but bittersweet cuts through the sweet banana better.
Why does the batter look curdled when you mix it?
Ina says not to worry about this. The banana and sour cream hit the creamed butter at different temperatures and fat contents, which makes the mixture look separated.
It smooths out completely once the flour goes in. The key is mixing on low speed and not overmixing, which would make the cake tough.
If you overmix to try to fix the curdled look, you develop too much gluten and the cake comes out dense and chewy instead of tender.
