Incredibly soft and moist banana chocolate chip coffee cake with a cinnamon sugar ribbon in the middle, lots of gooey chocolate chips, and a crunchy pecan streusel on top.

Meet my new favorite coffee cake. Soon to be your favorite too because, gee whiz if this ain’t pure gold in a pan. Seriously, the best coffee cake I’ve ever put in my face.

Bananas and chocolate are obviously a king combo but throwing it in coffee cake form with a cinnamon sugar ribbon AND streusel on top? Deceased.

I mean, this is leveling up breakfast in a serious way.

There are 3 different components to this coffee cake, but I promise, each one only takes minutes to prep! We’ve got the banana cake batter, cinnamon sugar center, and pecan streusel and each one does its job to total perfection.

I mean just look at that slice down there and tell me that’s not perfection.

This Coffee Cake features…

A soft banana cake base with lots of chocolate chips
A sweet cinnamon sugar center
Lots of crunchy pecan streusel baked on top

Making the Coffee Cake

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

Unsalted butter
Brown sugar
Egg
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Kosher salt
Buttermilk
Bananas
Semisweet chocolate chips
Granulated sugar
Chopped pecans

Choosing Your Bananas

You will need 3 medium bananas for this coffee cake. When mashed that should equal about 1-1/2 cups mashed banana.

For best results, I recommend choosing ripe, spotty bananas as these mash well and distribute a sweet banana flavor throughout the cake.

Tips for Perfect Coffee Cake

Bring butter, eggs, and buttermilk to room temperature – this will help these ingredients mix more cohesively.
Cream softened butter with sugar – this builds the fat base to the cake batter.
Measure flour correctly – I use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
Gently fold batter – use a light hand when mixing batter and gently fold so as not to overmix.
Use a toothpick to test cake – insert a toothpick in the center of cake to test for doneness.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on this coffee cake.

Use another kind of chocolate – try dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate.
Add fruit – fold 1 cup diced strawberries or raspberries into batter.
Top cake with glaze – try a simple vanilla powdered sugar glaze or a cream cheese glaze.
Try another nut – replace the pecans with walnuts or almonds.

Storing and Freezing Coffee Cake

Allow the coffee cake to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days. For best results, I recommend reheating individual slices for serving so the chocolate is gooey.

To freeze coffee cake, allow to cool completely, wrap cake well, and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw cake completely at room temperature and reheat for serving.

Every bite of this coffee cake is a luxurious experience. You get that incredible banana cake base, gooey chocolate chips, sweet cinnamon sugar, and crunchy streusel in every bite and wow is the only word that comes to mind.

Coffee cake is technically supposed to be for breakfast, but this one is just so good, it could definitely qualify as a dessert. Or a snack. Or maybe an entire meal itself.

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More banana-packed favorites to make next!

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