Caribbean Coffee Cake

One of the new features I was excited to discover during my Carnival Cruise was a coffee shop! Because of my love for coffee, I discovered it immediately when we boarded. And while most passengers went straight for the fun tropical cocktails on deck to celebrate as we floated away from Cape Canaveral, I was drawn to the caffeine.

In addition to Italian style espressos, cappuccinos, and regular drip coffee, they also had mixed coffee drinks with a “kick.” There was one drink in particular, called Caribbean Coffee, that had a bit of banana flavored rum in it that tasted so deliciously like the islands we were sailing around that I felt inspired to create this recipe. It’s a banana rum coffee cake with coconut crumble and a sweet rum drizzle — Caribbean Coffee Cake. It’s part banana bread and part rum cake with a crispy coffee cake crumble. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Caribbean Coffee Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick of butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 stick of butter, cold
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup crushed walnut pieces
• 1/4 cup of rum (plus one extra tablespoon to make glaze)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350℉. Spray the inside of a large bread pan with cooking spray and line the bottom of a bread pan with parchment paper.

Start by making the crumble topping. Chop the cold stick of butter into small pieces and add to a small bowl. Then add 1/2 cup of flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and a 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix together using a pastry cutter or fork, blending in until it looks like a crumble. Add in the walnut pieces and coconut, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Next, add the softened stick of butter and granulated sugar to a stand mixer and beat on a low to medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until it looks like a light colored frosting.

While the butter and sugar are mixing, sift the remaining 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt together in a separate bowl and set aside.

Next, add the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar blending in the mixer. Then, alternate between wet and dry ingredients as you add each one. Start by adding a couple of spoonfuls of the sifted flour to the butter in order to thicken it up, then add the 1/4 cup rum. Then a few more spoonfuls of flour. Then add the sour cream, and a few more spoonfuls of flour. Then add the mashed banana, and finish with remaining flour.

Pour cake batter into bread pan and sprinkle crumble over the top. Make sure your bread pan is big enough for it to rise a bit without going over the edge. Since this is more cake-like then bread-like, it will spill over the sides if there is too much batter.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool (about an hour) and then remove it from the pan.

While the cake is cooling, mix up the glaze by stirring together the confectioner’s sugar, tablespoon of milk, and tablespoon of rum. Mix ingredients together until there are no lumps, then drizzle along the top of the cake.