Sunday, August 7, 2011

Coffee Cake with Almond-Oat Streusel Topping

I had a craving for coffee cake this morning for breakfast.  Now, I know that you're thinking I've fallen off the wagon for my 21 day program, but not really.  The coffee cake is gluten free and made with agave syrup instead of sugar and I only had a really small slice.  The remainder of the cake is for my husband to enjoy.  I just really like baking and wanted to make something gluten free.


For the cake base, I followed the recipe for blueberry crumb cake in the Baby Cakes cookbook.  However, I made several adjustments to the recipe.  Instead of coconut oil (I don't want all the saturated fat), I used canola oil and instead of rice milk, I used almond milk because I used almonds in my topping.  I also added almond extract and coffee extract to the batter instead of just using vanilla and I omitted the blueberries all together.  Finally the recipe in the book uses leftover cupcakes for the crumb topping.  Now, I'm not about to make a batch of 24 gluten free vanilla cupcakes just so that I can create a crumb topping for my coffee cake--seems a bit excessive!  So I made my own streusel topping using gluten free oats, oat flour and almond meal.  I also made my own glaze using cashew cream, agave syrup and coffee extract.  So how did it taste...well it was quite good actually.  The cake had a really nice texture and worked well with the crunchy almond topping.  And my husband ate two pieces so I know that he really liked it.


Cashew Coffee Cream Glaze
:


1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least four hours
1 cup filtered water
1 tbsp agave syrup or more to taste
1/2 tsp coffee extract (optional), or vanilla extract

Method:
  • Soak cashews in filtered water, drain and place cashews in a blender and add 1 cup filtered water and blend on high for 4 minutes until creamy.
  • Place in a bowl and stir in agave syrup and coffee extract and set aside.
Almond-Oat Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free oat flour (optional, you can grind your own oat flour in a spice grinder with rolled oats, see below)
1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free whole rolled oats
1/4 cup roughly chopped almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup agave syrup
1 tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, melted

Method:
  • Place 1/2 cup sliced raw almonds in a food processor and grind to a fine meal.  Measure out a 1/2 cup almond meal and place in a medium bowl.
  • Place 1/4 cup whole rolled oats in a spice grinder and grind into a fine flour.  Measure out a 1/4 cup oat flour and add to the almond meal.
  • To the bowl of almond meal and oat flour add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
  • Refrigerate until ready to use.
Cake Base:

2/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free A/P Flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup agave syrup
1/3 cup almond milk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (if you omit the coffee and almond extracts, then increase the vanilla to 2 tsp)
1/2 tsp coffee extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp lemon zest
Canola spray

Method:
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees and place rack in the middle of the oven.
  • Line the bottom of a 9x3" round cake pan with parchment paper and spray the bottom lightly with canola spray.
  • In a medium bowl, sift together a/p flour, rice flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and kosher salt and set aside.
  • In another bowl, whisk together, canola oil, agave syrup, almond milk, extracts and lemon zest.
  • Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
  • Pour into prepared cake pan and using your fingers crumble almond-oat streusel topping evenly over top of batter.
  • Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and then turn cake and then bake another 15 minutes until golden brown.
  • Remove cake from the oven and cool on a baking rack for about 20 minutes.
  • Gently run a knife around the edge of the cake and cover with a baking sheet and turn cake upside down.  Remove cake pan and then place a plate on the bottom of cake and then re-invert cake onto plate.
  • Cut cake into slices and drizzle with cashew-coffee cream.








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