A Vegan and Gluten Free Version of Classic Coffee Cake
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Finally! Vegan Gluten Free coffee cake! Made without refined sugar!! As much as I love green smoothies and oatmeal for breakfast, sometimes I just need a treat. A hot cup of coffee or tea with a slice of warm coffee cake on a weekend morning really is one of the best things ever.
I’ve been wanting to adapt the classic coffee cake from my childhood into something I can eat now. That meant cutting out the gluten, the dairy, the eggs and the refined sugar. I finally did it! It took a few tries (and a couple midnight insomnia baking sessions), but the secret to getting a gluten free and vegan coffee cake that’s not too dense or gummy really is in the choice of egg replacer. Using aquafaba to replace eggs was a game changer!
Aquafaba:
Are you familiar with aquafaba? It’s the liquid that garbanzo beans are cooked in! Weird, right? I know it sounds crazy, but this liquid is actually a great substitute for eggs. You can whip it up and it acts like egg whites and can even be used to create vegan meringue! In this recipe, there’s no need to whip it. We aren’t getting too wild here. Using the liquid straight from a can of garbanzo beans will do the trick.
The ingredients:
This cake has a streusel topping. Before baking, the topping gets poked into the batter so some of the cinnamon sugar goodness gets spread throughout the cake. Coconut sugar is used in both the cake and the topping and is a nice alternative to refined white sugar.
I tested this recipe using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour blend. I’ve made my own flour blends in the past but finding a pre-made blend that works has made gluten free baking much easier.
Let me know if you make this recipe! I hope you can enjoy it with a warm beverage on a slow, quiet morning.
Vegan Gluten Free Classic Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Coffee Cake:
- 1/2 cup vegan butter (I use Earth Balance Soy Free)
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 6 Tbsp aquafaba
- 1/2 cup vegan coconut yogurt, vanilla
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk Almond or coconut
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend (I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 GF flour)
For the Topping:
- 1/3 cup vegan butter (I use Earth Balance Soy Free)
- 5 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 GF flour)
- 1/3 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Prepare the topping:
- In a medium bowl, combine the coconut sugar, cinnamon and GF flour.
- Using a fork or pastry blender to cut the vegan butter into the dry mixture. The goal here is to end up with a mixture that is a coarse meal (not a ball of dough).
- Add the chopped walnuts.
Prepare the cake:
- Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together the vegan butter, coconut sugar and aquafaba.
- To the butter mixture, add the yogurt, non dairy milk and all dry ingredients. Mix until everything is just combined. This mixture will be a thick batter.
- Pour the batter into a oiled or parchment lined 9" cake pan.
Topping the cake:
- Spread the streusel topping evenly over the batter.
- Use your finger (or the blunt end of a wooden spoon) and poke poke poke! Here you are just pushing some of the topping into the cake. Push straight down (about 15 pokes around the top of the cake should be good).
Baking:
- Bake the cake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes.
- Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes before cutting.