Cake for Breakfast

Flambéed bananas foster bread and lush cinnamon streusel coffee cake

This coffee cake is inspired by one of my favorite-ever recipes from The Cake Bible

I will take any excuse to have cake for breakfast, and today I’m sharing the recipes for two of my favorite morning treats. The first, for all subscribers, is my bananas foster bread. The recipe was inspired by my favorite banana bread in the world from Boston's Flour Bakery & Café. The method of whipping sugar with eggs (or, in this case, aquafaba), before streaming in the oil, results in a supremely moist and soft crumb. I've upped the ante by first flambéeing the bananas in vegan butter, brown sugar, spices, and a splash of dark rum for a richly flavored, deeply caramelized loaf, an ode to the famous New Orleans dessert Bananas Foster.

The second recipe, for the most decadent (and amazingly vegan!) cinnamon streusel coffee cake - pictured above - is available further down for paid subscribers. Bake one this weekend and your whole family will thank you :)

This bananas foster bread has rum-flambéed bananas in the batter

Bananas Foster Bread

Makes one 9" x 4" x 4" loaf

45 mins active time, 3 hours total time

Ingredients

Flambéed Bananas

340 g (about 2 1/2) bananas, the riper the better

55 g (1/4 cup, packed) dark brown sugar

60 g (4 tbsp) unsalted, cultured-style vegan butter (e.g. Miyoko’s) (see note below)

10 g (2 tsp) vanilla paste

1.25 g (1/2 tsp) cinnamon

0.625 g (1/4 tsp) nutmeg

30 g (2 tbsp) dark rum (e.g. Kraken or Mount Gay)

Banana Bread Batter

210 g (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour

5 g (1 tsp) baking soda

1.5 g (1/2 tsp) kosher salt (Diamond Crystal or see note below)

90 g (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) aquafaba (see note below)

175 g (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) organic granulated sugar

50 g (1/4 cup) canola oil

1 recipe Flambéed Bananas

5 g (1 tsp) lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

1/2 banana, for top

Raw (turbinado) sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

Prepare and cool Flambéed Bananas

1. Slice bananas lengthwise, then peel, keeping the sliced side against the cutting board to prevent it from breaking (though if it does that's okay!)

2. Melt the butter and brown sugar in a large sauté pan over medium heat until the mixture is bubbling and mostly emulsified

3. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and stir to combine

4. Add the bananas, cut side down, and cook for about 2 mins

5. Flip the bananas and continue cooking for another 1-2 mins

6. Pour in the rum, light a long match, stand back, and ignite the alcohol, shaking the pan until it has burned off

7. Continue cooking the mixture until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 1 min longer

8. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature, then mash with a fork until mostly smooth

9. Can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before using

Make Banana Bread Batter and bake loaf

1. Preheat oven to 325 F and position rack in middle of oven

2. Grease a 9 x 4 x 4 inch Pullman loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, and fit with a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom and long sides. Grease the parchment paper lightly

3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt

4. Add the lemon juice to the Flambéed Bananas and stir to combine

5. Combine the aquafaba and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment

6. Whip the aquafaba mixture on medium speed for 5 mins, until thick, glossy, and white

7. Decrease the speed to low, and slowly stream in the oil

8. Add the Flambéed Bananas mixture and combine on low speed

9. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix the batter with a rubber spatula to ensure it is evenly combined

10. Fold in the dry ingredients in three parts, mixing just until no flour streaks remain

11. Pour the batter into the prepared pan

12. Slice the 1/2 banana lengthwise into three or four planks, and lay these on top of the loaf

13. Sprinkle the loaf with raw sugar and bake at 325 F for 1 hour 15 mins

14. Allow loaf to cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 30 mins, then use the parchment paper to lift the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool completely on the rack

The crumb is so tender, the bananas on top almost sink in!

Notes & Variations

Ingredient Notes

• Kosher salt: I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which has larger crystals than other kinds of kosher salt, normal table salt or fine sea salt. As a result, when measured by volume (teaspoons/tablespoons) it will add less "saltiness" than an equal quantity of the other salts. If you are not using Diamond Crystal, I recommend measuring your salt by weight, in which case you won't run into this issue. Otherwise, use half the volume quantity of salt

• Vegan butter: There are two main types of vegan butter: (1) margarine-style products that are basically butter-flavored vegetable shortening (e.g. Violife), and (2) cultured-style products made from cashew, coconut, or other kinds of fats (e.g. Miyoko's). I generally prefer the first type in cakes, muffins, and frostings, where the more obvious "butter" flavor and greater stability, and yellow color are beneficial. I prefer the second type in recipes where the fat will caramelize, such as cookies, pie or tart dough, and bread, as margarine-style butters can develop unpleasant burnt oil flavors when heated to high temperatures. Also, cultured-style butter can be browned similarly to dairy butter, while margarine-style butter cannot

• Aquafaba: Aquafaba is the liquid brine from a can of chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans). Simply pour the contents of the can into a mesh strainer set over a liquid measuring cup or bowl to collect the liquid, then use as directed in the recipe

For Banana Muffins

1. Make the batter as directed

2. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup or cookie scoop, divide the batter evenly amongst 12 standard-size muffin cups lined with muffin papers (ideally high-sided, tulip-style, as they will be quite full)

3. Bake at 425 F for 5 mins, then turn the temperature down to 350 F for an additional 20 mins

4. Cool for 15 mins in the pan before removing to a rack to cool completely

For Banana Walnut Bread

1. Spread about 1 cup walnut halves on baking sheet and toast at 350 F for 10 mins. Allow to cool

2. Measure out 75 g (3/4 cup) walnuts, chop roughly, and toss with 1 tsp flour to coat

3. Chop/grind remaining nuts finely, or snack on them

4. Substitute 50 g (1/4 cup) roasted walnut oil for the canola oil in the batter

5. After folding in the dry ingredients, fold in the 75 g (3/4 cup) chopped walnuts

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle with raw sugar, but omit the sliced banana on top. Bake as directed

7. Immediately after baking, brush the top of the loaf with 1 - 2 tsps agave or maple syrup to create a sticky surface, and sprinkle the top generously with the ground walnuts, pressingly lightly to adhere

For Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

1. Toss 100 g (3/4 cup) vegan dark chocolate chips with 1 tsp flour to coat

2. After folding in the dry ingredients, fold in the chocolate chips, sprinkle top with raw sugar and additional chocolate chips, omit the sliced banana on top, and bake as directed

Things I Used

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Ingredients

King Arthur all-purpose flour

Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Miyoko’s unsalted vegan butter

Ground cinnamon

Ground nutmeg

Nielsen-Massey pure vanilla extract

Kraken black spiced rum

Equipment

12-cup muffin pan

Tulip-style muffin liners

1/4 cup muffin scoop

OXO perforated style potato masher

Kitchen Aid 5-qt stand mixer

All-Clad 10" frying pan

4” x 4” x 9” Pullman loaf pan

The satisfying geometry of a glaze drizzle…

I first started my Instagram Baking Daze at the beginning of COVID, having just quit my job in anticipation of going to cooking school in April. Of course, that didn't turn out as planned, and I ended up baking in my Mom's house for 6 months before eventually making it to Le Cordon Bleu Paris in September. In the meantime, I baked from the cookbooks she had on her shelves and posted photos and commentary about what I'd made online. I ranked the recipes using the medal emojis: bronze, silver, and gold. Of the nearly 100 recipes I baked, there were only 12 gold medals.

I say all of this to preface that the cinnamon streusel coffee cake recipe below is based on one of those gold medal recipes: the coffee cake in Rose Levy Beranbaum's monumental book The Cake Bible, which my Grandma gave me when I was 10 or 11. Of course, I've veganized the recipe: instead of egg yolks I use silken tofu for a lush texture, and there is a combination of vegan butter and vegetable oil, which provides rich flavor while keeping the cake moist for days. I've also used a mixing method borrowed from Bon Appetit (which I use for all my vanilla cakes) in which the sugars are dissolved in hot milk (in this case oat milk) to create an incredibly soft and tender crumb. A layer of cinnamon sugar filling (with optional ground pecans) and a very generous crown of salty-sugary cinnamon streusel put this cake over the top. I guarantee you and your family will give this recipe gold medals all around.

This cake can only be described as LUSH