Coffee in my Cake.

Happy Tuesday y'all!

I absolutely love rainy mornings...it gives me an excuse to not go for my usual outdoor run around the neighborhood. It's like the feeling you had when your teacher gave you a free hall pass to use the bathroom, but really, you wandered around the halls of your high school for about 30 minutes contemplating the last bell of the day. Or, you could have just been me in high school, all I had to do was make a phone call to my mother who would talk to the secretary, who adored me, to turn me loose from school due to any sort of "sickness" I had. 

I am telling you, I had all sorts of ailments, from "I can't stand 3rd period-itis," to "do I really have to go to cheer leading practice for three hours after school-itis?" The worst was senioritis. Basically, when I wanted out of school, I got out. This usually involved two of my friends and I high-tailing it to our fave local snow-cone joint! Yep, I was sooo bad...like the "I had a 3.8 g.p.a. and was 3rd in my class bad." Dangerous.

Anyhoo, I took it "easy" this morning and watched re-runs of Boy Meets World while I road 45 minutes on the bike trainer. I was soooo Topanga when I was 7...you have no idea. I would beg my parents to let me stay in every Friday night for T.G.I.F. It unfortunately coincided with our usual 1 night a week out to eat family dinners. O my dear DVR...where were you then? Thank goodness for re-runs! 

Back to rainy weather...it calls for coffee. But seriously...any day calls for coffee. It also calls for a warm, comforting breakfast. 

I've got your breakfast right here.

Coffee Cake.

Don't be fooled by the name...there is no actual coffee in coffee cake, unless of course, you invent some sort of coffee cake with coffee in it...which I am all for!

Let's call this Banana Bread Coffee Cake.

It's meant to be devoured with a good cup of coffee

This cake had all the flavors of a classic banana bread, with bananas baked right into the batter, and extra bananas arranged between the layers in the cake.

Seriously, it's a banana explosion.

This cake only gets better with the addition of a cinnamon-sugar pecan topping, which gives this rather dense cake a bit of crunch with each bite.

Yes, I totally went there.

Now, pour yourself a cup of coffee and go to town!

Banana Bread Coffee Cake (GF):

Ingredients:

2 c. almond flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

3 T. granulated sugar

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 c. chopped pecans

1/2 c. light brown sugar

2 T coconut oil (not melted)

2 T. melted coconut oil

2 ripe bananas, mashed

seeds of 1 vanilla bean

1 c. plain non-fat Greek yogurt (you can substitute plain non-dairy yogurt for a completely non-dairy coffee cake :) )

1 ripe banana, sliced crosswise into 1/2 in. pieces

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 in. square cake pan with parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. 

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar and non-melted coconut oil together until smooth and creamy. 

5. Add the melted coconut oil and beat again. 

6. Add the mashed bananas to the mixture and beat again, until everything is fully distributed.

7. Beat in the yogurt and the vanilla.

8. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients (in two sections) to the wet ingredients.

9. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.

10. Sprinkle half of the pecan mixture over the batter and distribute the banana slices crosswise in neatly arranged rows over the pecan mixture. 

11. Pour the remaining better over the bananas.

12. Distribute the remaining pecan mixture evenly over the cake, pressing the pecans gently 

13. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Slice into squares and serve warm.

Makes 16 square pieces of cake.

MANGIA!!!