Bananas Fosters Coffee Cake

By Texaschef11

Ingredients

• For the cake:
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons dark rum
• 3 ripe bananas, sliced into 1 1/2-inch chunks (about 2 cups of banana pieces)
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• For the streusel:
• 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preparation

Step 1

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray,

In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Add the dark brown sugar and stir to combine. Add the rum and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often, until slightly thickened. Add the banana chunks and cook for 3 minutes more, gently stirring and coating the bananas with the caramel as they cook. When the bananas are very tender, mash a few times with a potato masher just to break down the banana into bits–don’t overmash them into a paste. Scrape the caramelized banana mixture into a medium heatproof bowl. Stir in the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter until melted. Stir in the vanilla. Let the mixture cool until its just warm to the touch. Quickly whisk in the eggs.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together into a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

To make the streusel, combine the flour, sugar and butter in a small bowl. Use your fingertips or a fork to blend the ingredients into a pebbly mixture (be careful not to overwork the butter if you’re using your fingers, as to not melt the butter with the heat of your hands). Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting and serving.