Banana Crunch Cake

No matter how many times I buy bananas, it never seems to fail…I always have at least 2 bananas out of the bunch that get overripe before I get a chance to eat them. This is usually what inspires my banana recipes. Recently I had 3 bananas that were about ready to kick the bucket, so I decided to make a banana crumb cake. I happened to have half a bag of toffee bits in the house and had been waiting for an opportunity to finish the bag, so I added them to the crumb mixture. This gave the topping a bit of a crunch, which I loved! So the cake changed from a banana crumb cake to banana crunch cake.

Now I go out to buy bananas specifically to make this cake. It is sooo good!

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups sugar
3 bananas, peeled and mashed
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ cup toffee bits

For preparing the pan:
Cooking spray (I use butter flavor)
1 tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon

For the topping:
¾ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened
½ cup toffee bits

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together the granulated sugar, bananas, and butter with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the remaining cake ingredients and beat until smooth and fully combined. Stir in ½ cup of toffee bits.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Combine 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the bottom and sides of the baking pan.

3. To make the topping, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Blend in the butter using an electric mixer. Stir in the toffee bits, then work the mixture with your hands a bit to form crumbs (small chunks).

4. Assemble the cake: Pour just enough cake batter into the pan to completely cover the bottom of the pan (no more than half of the batter). Sprinkle about half of the crumbs evenly over the batter. Carefully pour the rest of the batter over the crumb layer, gently spreading it out with a spoon so all of the crumbs are covered with batter. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture evenly over the top.