no tea after 12

I've been in the mood for good old fashioned coffee cake lately. A fat squidgy slice of breakfast cake. dense and sweet, with a crumbly soft topping. Well, this banana cake ain't it. But to its credit it is soft and dense, and yes, its even squidgy. But for me, this one is missing the quintessential buttery big crumb topping. And yes, I should've known this from the likes of the recipe. And again yes, I probably even should've adapted the recipe to include a big crumb which would've been incredibly simple, but I thought this one would over-impress with its simplicity. Don't get me wrong, it is impressive, and simple. But its no Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake with BIG CRUMB (stay tuned). Which is what I was craving. By all means, don't pass this cake by, just make it when YOU are craving banana, chocolate, and walnuts. 

The original recipe for this actually called for DOUBLE the amount of filling and topping which I feared would be sickeningly sweet so I opted for half and it was indeed the right choice. A full wallop of the brown sugar, chocolate chip, and walnut alongside the naturally sweet over-ripe bananas would've made this cake near to inedible, and inedible cake is a travesty. The recipe also called the topping a Streusel which I would vehemently disagree with, for me a Streusel must include both flour and butter and as previously mentioned they did not make an appearance here. And another thing, rather than staying soft and crumbly in the oven the brown sugar, chocolate chips and walnuts melt together forming a slightly caramelized crust, which I would say is one of the best features of this cake. So to summarize this is a Banana Cake with a Chocolate Chip and Walnut Sprinkle and not a Streusel, says me. Whatever it is, it's darn good...and as usual, hubby didn't stage a walkout when I presented him with a slice, so on all accounts I reckon this was another success.