reminiscent of starbucks

 

It's 12:34 AM and I just took my freshly baked banana chocolate chip coffee cake out of the oven. Of course late night baking means it's going to become my breakfast the next morning. I wanted to make a pastry, maybe bread or a roll or something, but for some reason Starbucks crossed my mind. Starbucks. The moment you walk through the door all you smell is the sweet aroma of ground coffee beans; you hear the buzzing of the machines as they top off each drink with foam. Sometimes it's hectic and lines are long, but just a jolt of that coffee paired with one of their bakery goods and it's an easy breakfast on the go.

Near the end of Autumn each year I would start going to Starbucks almost every morning--or every other morning to be exact. It sort of became a ritual: 6 AM with my salted caramel mocha and banana chocolate chip coffee cake and then off to morning rehearsal.

Starbucks seemingly took over my life these past two summers. I went on a month-long tour both summers, basically living on a charter bus and occasionally sleeping on gym floors; being deprived of the necessities of normal life does make you go a bit crazy when you encounter something you're ordinarily accustomed to. In this case, for me and my friend C, it was Starbucks. Every city and state we went to, C and I tracked down Starbucks locations on her phone. Sometimes we were really lucky, and after shows or on free days we'd literally run to the nearest Starbucks and indulge in our venti green tea lattes and trenta iced coffees and get that comforting feel of being somewhat back to normal life--but only for that moment.


My favorite bakery item of Starbucks is--obviously--their reduced-fat banana chocolate chip coffee cake. The cake, filled with dark chocolate chips, is super moist and buttery with a hint of coffee that prevails through its strong banana flavor. I added a few twists to the gluten-free banana bread recipe to make the cake more moist, and turned it into my own version of the banana chocolate chip coffee cake. My rendition is gluten-free of course :) Dollop with Greek yogurt as I always do, along with a cup of warm green tea, and an almost-but-not-quite Starbucks breakfast is served.

Gluten-Free Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

adapted from The Healthy Chef
yields one 8-inch cake 
 
Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas mashed
3 eggs
1 tbs honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs Greek yogurt
3 tbs ricemilk/soymilk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 tbs instant ground coffee
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate shavings, putting my Pound Plus chocolate bar to good use :))

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray an 8-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray
- Combine the mashed bananas, eggs, honey, vanilla extract, Greek yogurt, ricemilk or soymilk, ground cinnamon, and ground coffee in a large bowl until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the baking soda, ground flaxseed, and almond meal. 
- Add the dry ingredients in tablespoons to the wet ingredients and combine well. Then add in the 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips or chocolate shavings and incorporate.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and set in the preheated oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove, cut, and serve!