Nothing like a super easy, tasty, and classic coffee cake or coffee cake muffins to start your Sunday morning off right. Better yet, if you freeze them, you can enjoy them all week long!
For me, there’s nothing like the balance between sweet bananas and bitter walnuts in this recipe. Not only that, you’ll love how moist and fluffy these are.
The trickiest part of this recipe is a toss-up between the challenge of not eating the whole batch in one sitting or the daunting task of keeping it in supply because your household can’t resist eating it up either.
I came up with this recipe over the past 12 years of being gluten-free. It’s the first recipe I’ve published on this site and one that I will always make for my kids, no matter how big they get.
If you don’t have any sourdough starter or discard on hand, fear not! Just go ahead and mix a 50/50 blend of flour and water, and add it to the wet mixture when it calls for sourdough. The sourdough I use is so mild, that you’re most likely going to have the same result.
Tips for Success
- Start by preheating your oven right away. I like to have the oven at 350 F / 176 C for a good 30 minutes before I put my muffin pan in.
- Go ahead and measure out all the wet ingredients first. I like to do this since it’s ideal for them to be at room temperature by the time I mix them.
- Melt the butter before mixing ingredients so that it has time to cool.
- Roast the walnut halves on medium to low heat in a frying pan so that you get any moisture out of them, you’ll thank me later when you get that lovely crunch in the muffin!
So what are you waiting for? Go grab your apron and give it a go! To give you an idea of how it works, I’ve made a quick teaser video below:
Gluten-free Banana Nut Sourdough Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 10 x 13-inch pan
- Electric Hand Mixer or Kitchen Stand Mixer
- Spatula
- Mixing Bowls
- Kitchen Scale
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Cake Tester
Ingredients
Dry Mixture, Part I
- 288 g Gluten Free Baking Flour, Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1
- 116 g Sugar, Granulated
- 5 g Sea Salt, Fine
Topping Mixture
- 88 g Dry Mixture, Part I
- 10 g Gluten-free quick cooking oats
- 5 g Light Brown Sugar
- 4 g Ground Cinnamon
- 4-5 g Walnut Oil
- 14 g Unsalted butter, room temperature
- 30 g Walnuts, chopped (not roasted)
Dry Mixture, Part II
- 30 g Gluten-free quick-cooking oats
- 10 g Tapioca Flour (Starch)
- 6 g Baking Soda
- 4 g Baking Powder
- 140 g Walnuts, Chopped and ideally roasted
Wet Mixture
- 100 g Unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 174 g Light Brown Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 350 g Bananas, (3-4) Ripe and mashed
- 174 g Gluten-free Sourdough Starter (discard)
Instructions
Before You Begin
- Preheat the oven to 350 F / 176 C
- Grease a 10 x 13-inch pan
- I find it's super helpful to measure out all the wet ingredients in the beginning since it's best if they are all at room temperature when you mix.
- Melt the butter so it has time to cool
- Roast the walnuts for the Dry Mix, Part II on low-medium heat to get them a little crispy.
START THE DRY MIXTURE
- Whisk together the flour, sea salt, and granulated sugar into a small to medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Take out and put 88 g (⅔ Cup) of the dry mixture into a small to medium-sized bowl. Adjust amount if doubling or tripling the recipe.
MAKE TOPPING MIXTURE
- Add oats, 1 tsp of light brown sugar, cinnamon, walnut oil and butter to the 88g of dry mix.
- Mash together with a fork until the butter is evenly incorporated. Small little clumps is OK.
- Toss in chopped walnuts and set aside.
FINISH THE DRY MIXTURE
- Return to your dry mix, add the quick oats, tapioca starch, baking soda, and baking powder and whisk until well combined.
- Toss in the chopped nuts and mix until evenly incorporated.
START THE WET MIXTURE
- In a separate, larger bowl, cream together the melted (and cooled) butter with the light brown sugar for a 1-2 minutes, so that it's nice and creamy.
- Add the eggs and whisk on high for about 5, maybe even 7, minutes, so long as it is pale, fluffy and has a nice sheen.
- Add the sourdough starter by breaking it up into chunks and then whisking on high until there are only small lumps.
- Now mash those bananas, separately, and add to the wet mix, only whisking on high until incorporated.
COMBINE MIXTURES
- Tip! Be careful not to over mix the dry ingredients in the wet mix. (You don't want to lose all the air you got from whisking those eggs in!)
- Gradually (I like to add the dry mix in 3 rounds) and gently add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Ideally, it should be more of a folding motion rather than a mixing or stirring one.
- Pour the batter evenly and gently into a well-greased pan.
- Tip! For the topping, I like to spread a little of the topping all over, then I go back over to make sure I can get it up to the edges. I even go back and "puncture" the batter so that I mix a little of the topping into the batter bit to add more flavor and texture.
BAKING
- I like to make sure the oven has been at desired temperature for at least a half-hour before baking.
- Place the pan in the middle of the rack, in the upper half of the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- You'll know it's ready when you poke a toothpick or cake tester into the middle and it comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes before serving, and enjoy!