Almond Banana Coffee Cake

I’m not sure where I found this online, but it was called Almond Banana Bread. This seemed to me to be a bit of a misnomer, so I changed it to Almond Banana Snacking Bread. It is a yeast bread with a sponge but it’s a bit sweet like cake. It is kind of fancy for everyday eating but light enough that you could make it kind of often.

I didn't use a vanilla bean pod and instead just used vanilla extract. And I used my springform pan instead and so it required a little more cooking.

Sponge:

1½ cup bread flour

⅔ cup lukewarm water

½ tsp yeast

1 tbsp powdered milk

Bread:

1½-1¾ bread flour

1 tbsp powdered milk

1 tsp salt

¼ cup brown sugar

½ tsp yeast

½ cup mashed banana

1 vanilla bean pod

3 tbsp soft butter

1 egg

Topping:

1 cup ground almond

¼ cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

3-4 bananas

cinnamon sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp rum

⅓ cup butter

2 eggs

1. Mix together the sponge ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit on the counter overnight (12- 16 hours).  This was very dry.
3. The next day pour this into a large bowl.  
4. Add in the powdered milk, salt, instant yeast, brown sugar, egg, mashed banana, butter, and the vanilla seeds from the vanilla pod.
5. Mix until smooth. I needed to do this in a Kitchen-Aid mixer to make it smooth.
6. Slowly add in the flour and begin to knead.
7. Add just enough flour to make a workable dough.
8. Knead for 8-10 minutes or until it becomes smooth and elastic.
9. Add a little oil to a clean bowl and place the kneaded dough into the bowl.
10. Turn the dough over a few times to lightly coat all sides of the dough.
11. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 1 hour or until double in bulk.
12. Take some parchment paper and line a 9½ x 13½ pan.
13. Spray with a little spray oil.
14. Place the dough into the pan and using your hands spread to cover the bottom of the pan.
15. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 25 minutes.
16. Make the topping, by placing the ground almonds, sugar, butter, eggs, flour, and rum into a bowl; mix until smooth and set aside.
17. Take the dough and using your hands again press down to fill the corners of the pan.
18. Take the almond topping and spread over the dough with a spoon.
19. Slice the bananas and dip in a little lemon juice to stop them from turning brown.
20. Cover the almond topping with the banana slices. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar.
21. Cover with a towel and allow to rest until double in bulk; about 20-30 minutes.
22. Bake at 350° for 25- 30 minutes.
23. Remove from oven and grab the sides of the parchment paper and lift the bread out and place onto a wire rack to cool.