blueberry banana coffee cake

who doesn't like coffee cake - i for one am a huge fan.

perfect for Sunday mornings with a few slices left over for a quick breakfast to go the next morning.

back in  the day  - my pregan life, i use to make a coffee cake that was amazing.

what wasn't so amazing was the full stick of butter that went into the cake, plus another 1/2 a stick for the crumb topping. so when the craving struck this past weekend for coffee cake, i though to myself "i can do better than 1 1/2 sticks of butter". so i set to work on a just as good, if not more awesome and healthier version of my beloved morning treat.

lemon juice, lemon zest, & frozen wild blueberries along with 2 bananas is your flavor base

i opted for the frozen wild blueberries saved from last summers berry picking adventure hike

they still taste like summer and remind me of the fun we had picking our stockpile of summer berries

the crumb topping is a mix of brown sugar, almonds, flour & butter

the bananas are mashed with the lemon sugar and mixed with lemon juice and almond milk.

blueberries are mixed in with the dry mix to ensure all your berries don't sink to the bottom.

once your dry and wet ingredients are mixed until just combined it all goes into a deep dish baking pan. the final step is to get messy with your crumb topping, mix it up with the hands and sprinkle on top. once baked, the crumb topping creates am irresistible sugar and almond crust.

best eaten the day it 's made - keep uncovered until ready to serve.

once covered the sugar crust doesn't stay as crisp as it once was. still good the next day, just different - sometime different is good.

the lemon adds a nice balance to the cake - Meyer lemons would make an excellent substitute for regular lemons.

a perfect lazy Sunday cake - i found myself grazing on cake all day.

invited to brunch? make this the morning of - it really is quite simple and bakes fairly quick.

in the time it will take you to ready yourself for said brunch this cake will be out of the oven ready to go....that is if you even have to leave the house for brunch - have the people come to you!



i was pleased with the results - compared to the old butter laden version, this one won hands down.

there was no guilt in devouring 3 pieces (ahem large pieces) in one day.

 make this your next baking adventure - i guarantee this coffee cake is sure to please!

Blueberry Banana Coffee Cake

serves 12-14

you will need:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup spelt flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 tsp lemon zest

1 cup sugar

2 bananas

juice of 1 lemon

1 1/4 cups almond milk

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

for the topping:

1/3 cup almonds

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

4 tbsp cold butter

assembly:

preheat oven to 350*

in a medium bowl sift together flours through salt

toss blueberries in the dry mix until all berries are coated with flour

place the lemon zest on a cutting board and rub a 1/4 cup of the sugar into the lemon zest releasing the oils of the zest

in a large bowl mash the bananas with the 1/4 cup lemon sugar and the remaining half cup of sugar. once mixed well, add the juice of the lemon and 1 1/4 cups of milk & vanilla - mix well. add the dry mix to the wet and stir until moist.

in a small bowl combine all the topping ingredients - with a pastry cutter, fork or your fingers mix the butter into the dry ingredients until butter is evenly distributed.

pour the batter into a greased baking dish and sprinkle with the crumb topping.

bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs

remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes until serving.

this will keep up to 3 days covered but best eaten the day of and kept uncovered until ready to serve.

enjoy!

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