Cinnamon Coffee Cake. I love a great coffee cake! So the experimenting began to find the World’s Best Cinnamon Coffee Cake: I decided that a great coffee cake must:
- Have a great texture
- It should be irresistible – everyone who tries it should want a second piece
- It should be good for you! High in protein and fiber
- Lower in sugar than most coffee cakes
- The World’s Best Cinnamon Coffee Cake should be wheat-free; yet I wanted it to taste better than a Coffee Cake made with wheat.
- AND it should stay moist, so I can make it ahead of time…
I baked and baked over 20 different Coffee Cakes and finally – Eureka! I found it! My Gorgeous Man and I decided to celebrate by making breakfast for 25 friends and relatives! And of course, we would serve them the World’s Best Cinnamon Coffee Cake which just happens to be gluten-free!
The Breakfast Menu was huge.
You know how I have this fear of not having enough food (sigh)!
Now, out of this group of 25 friends and relatives; only three of us were “gluten free.” All the others eat wheat. But unfortunately for me; there were some folks that had been so badly “burned” by eating poorly prepared, gluten-free food that they had formed a new religion! They called it: “I refuse to eat any food that is Gluten Free. It’s disgusting.”
Dang! What should I do?! Well, after fortifying myself with a (magnificent) cup of coffee I decided to…NOT TELL THEM THAT THE COFFEE CAKE WAS GLUTEN FREE. You know the old adage, “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
Here’s what happened at the Breakfast: Even with all that other food; both of the World’s Best Cinnamon Coffee Cakes got completely polished off. Man alive; do you know when I told them that the Coffee Cakes were gluten-free; they didn’t believe me?? Well, all I can say is – try this Coffee Cake for yourself. I think you’ll really enjoy it. I sure wish I had a piece right now…
1/4 teaspoon salt
- In a food processor, place almond flour, oat flour, coconut flour, salt, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar. Mix until combined. Then add the olive oil. Whirl, just until mixed. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Make topping: Remove 1 cup of this mixture and return to the food processor. Add the walnuts or pecans and the remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Whirl around until the nuts form “crumbs” for your topping. Set topping aside.
- Stir in baking soda and baking powder to the reserved mix in the large mixing bowl. Add vanilla, eggs and coconut milk. Beat on low speed just until combined, then beat on medium speed until smooth about 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on how powerful your mixer is.
- Pour into a greased 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan. Sprinkle on reserved topping. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until tests done. (Poke with a toothpick; near center – if the toothpick comes out clean – no wet batter on it, then it’s done).
ENJOY your Coffee Cake!
would substituting yogurt for the milk work? I want it to have a bit of a sour taste. I also wanted to add wild blueberries. do you think the water released from them would mess it up?
Hi Vivien!
I think substituting the yogurt for the milk could work. Substituting the yogurt for the milk will add more moistness to your Coffee Cake, since yogurt is quite a bit richer than the almond milk or refrigerated coconut milk called for in the recipe. (Almond Milk & Refrigerated Coconut milk contain approximately 40 – 70 calories per cup, whereas plain yogurt contains anywhere from approximately 120 calories for skim milk yogurt and 240 calories for whole milk yogurt.)
I am thinking that adding the blueberries, in addition to the yogurt substitution could make your Coffee Cake heavy or soggy and we sure don’t want that to happen!
Here is a thought about the blueberries: When you serve the Coffee Cake put a wee dollop of plain yogurt (or unsweetened whipped cream) next to each piece. Sprinkle each dollop with a teeny amount of brown sugar (that wee amount of brown sugar adds flavor and drama to the presentation) then top with your wild blueberries. That would be decadent and FUN!
I hope your Coffee Cake turns out AMAZING and that you LOVE IT! Thanks so much for writing, Vivien. Please let us know how it turned out!
Big hugs to you, Ruby Lynn
I am so GLAD your world is BETTER!! YES!!
Oh, my… subbing raw coconut sugar and agave for the brown sugar and then adding cream cheese frosting… How positively DECADENT! Now, I'm getting hungry…
Just made this! Absolutely amazing. I subbed raw coconut sugar and a bit of agave for the brown sugar to make it a more diabetic friendly treat. Then I threw diabetes out he window and added cream cheese frosting to half of it. You have just made my world so very much better!! Thanks!
Hi Sorcha!
World's Best Coffee Cake actually tastes BETTER if you make it a day ahead of time! (You could even make it two days ahead of time without having to freeze it. The only difficulty is trying not to eat it! Ha ha!)
After you bake the coffee cake, let it cool completely. Then, cover the coffee cake tightly with two layers of plastic wrap. Be sure that the coffee cake is completely cooled because if it is still warm, it will "sweat" and you don't want that!
When you are ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap and enjoy! If you prefer, you can warm your coffee cake in the oven at a low temperature (about 275 – 300 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 – 20 minutes. It will taste freshly baked! (Yahoo!)
My Gorgeous Man likes his coffee cake warmed with a pat of salted butter on it. Ohhhhh… so decadent!
Thanks so much for writing, Sorcha! Happy Baking! Lynn
Just wondering if you've ever made this ahead and frozen it? I'm looking for a Christmas morning breakfast to make this weekend and pull out so I don't have to fuss with breakfast that day.
Hi Pam!
Hooray, hooray! I'm so HAPPY that your coffee cake was delicious! And thank you for sharing your successful substitution, too!
Happy Cinnamon Smiles, Lynn 🙂
This is delicious! The only substitution I made was to use all baking soda and sour milk. The texture and taste are wonderful and I feel like I'm getting a good helping of protein and fiber, as well. Thanks for sharing, Lynn!
I'm so GLAD you loved the coffee cake and am delighted that your substitutions worked out so well! YAHOO!
Thanks so much for writing! Lynn
PS Happy Birthday to your hubby!
I made this for my hubby's birthday this past weekend. I had never made a gf coffee cake, and found so many variations online when searching for a recipe. I decided to try this one out, and let me tell you it was EXCELLENT! Moist, crumbly deliciousness that didn't taste heavy like most gluten free cakes. We loved it and will be making it again. I did make some substitutions. Instead of oat four, I used all purpose gluten free flour mix. Instead of coconut flour, I used shredded coconut. I added xantham gum. Decreased milk to 3/4 cups. And used coconut oil instead of olive oil. Ok so there were a lot of variations 😉 but this is a good go to recipe for anyone trying to make gf coffee cake!
Hi Amanda!
Oh, it's GO GOOD to hear from you! I hope you and your son LOVE this coffee cake!
If you cannot find oat flour, sorghum or millet flour are worthy substitutes. Just be sure that your flour tastes fresh. (Taste a wee bit of the flour before you bake with it.) I have found that both sorghum and millet flour can taste "bitter" if they sit on the shelf too long.
Now, of course every ingredient change will change the taste and texture, however, sometimes I like the "new" changed recipe even better! So have FUN and experiment!
Happy Cinnamon Hugs, Lynn
Hi Lynn,
I have all ingredients needed aside from the oat flour and can't seem to find that anywhere near where I live.
I try to steer clear of brown rice flour due to the connection with arsenic, as my son will be eating this cake. I have sorghum and buckwheat flours on hand, would the sorghum make a worthy substitute for oat flour?
Your site is amazing, thank you for sharing so many wonderful recipes, I can't wait to try them all! Your writing makes me smile and enjoy reading your posts that much more :).
Kind regards,
Amanda
Hi Joanne! For this particular coffee cake the ground almond flour is a "must" because it not only gives a great texture and flavor to the coffee cake; the nut flour helps it hold together!
The addition of the two other flours make the coffee cake "sing!" Without the addition of the other flours, your coffee cake will have less flavor and the texture will be heavier.
However, if you are allergic to the oat flour or cannot find it at your grocery store; you could substitute brown rice flour and your coffee cake will still be fabulous. I am hesitant to recommend a coconut flour substitute because coconut flour is a naturally sweet flour which means less sugar is needed in this coffee cake. Coconut flour also adds fiber, flavor and creates a really nice texture.
However, that said; you could experiment and try a gluten free flour blend, but your results will be quite different than this recipe. Also, without the ground almond or other nut flour you would need to add xanthan gum in order to hold your coffee cake together.
I hope this answers your question fully, Joanne! Let me know what you decide to do!
Happy Baking! Lynn
Do you think I could use 3 1/4c. of a GF flour blend? Or are those flours a must?
Hi Robin! What a brilliant idea to add crushed almonds to the topping! I will have to try that myself! I am excited to hear how your substitution went!
Thanks for writing and I love your website; I can hardly wait to check it out some more!
Happy "Almondy" Coffee Cake Day! Lynn
I just made this but had to make a substitution since I am allergic to oats, so couldn't use oat flour. I just upped the almond flour instead…also I used crushed almonds as the topping as well so this cake is quite "almondy!" It just came out of the oven so keeping fingers crossed that it's a hit! Out of all the "glute-free, dairy-free" coffee cake recipes I found online, this one was the best!
Robin@ toxicbeautyblog.com
Hi Erin! Thanks so much for writing and reading my blog! Hey, I'll answer your question by email! Talk to ya soon! Smiles, Lynn
Thank you Lynn! I love your blog! Any chance I can commission one of your carrot cakes for my mom's birthday? I live in Sammamish.
Thanks!
Erin
Hi Erin! I'm so GLAD the flavor of the coffee cake was great! Hooray! Okay, but now we must become detectives so your next coffee cake will come out "picture perfect."
One time the same thing happened to me, too! So I tried to troubleshoot and here's what I came up with… I think I went a little light in my measurement of the almond flour; so the next time I very slightly heaped it and it came out perfect. I'm thinking that 2-3 tablespoons more of the almond flour should give you a thicker batter.
Erin, you comment has helped me make a decision… I truly want every recipe to turn out perfectly for you; so in the future I will make every effort to give the measurements by weight and also in cups. That way you will get "picture perfect" results every time! Hooray!
Thanks so much for writing!!! To your great Baking SUCCESS!!!
Big Hugs, Lynn
I love your site! I made this coffee cake for mother's day yesterday and the flavor was amazing. My batter was a little runny, so the crumble sunk into the cake… while it still came out well, it wasn't like the picture. Any ideas? I thought I followed your recipe exactly…
Hooray! Hooray, so glad you loved it!
Now you're making me hungry for some coffee cake…
Smiles, Lynn
This turned out so delicious! Great texture and flavor. I know my gluten-free friend will love it at tomorrow's brunch.
It's all you're fault, My mouth is watering for Coffee Cake and I can't stop it.