Apple Coffee Cake (gluten-free, dairy-free)

In sticking to eating and cooking with seasonal ingredients, bring on the apples. I most certainly am abiding by an apple a day. Unsure if I’ve ever been more satisfied with a baking experiment than this beaut here. It's a combination of two of my favorite things, apples and cake. 

Cringey nutritional choices of my past seem to be the best fuel for recipe development. I had a vague memory of what conventional coffee cake tasted like the other day. Specifically the cinnamon and crumb topping came back to me. The apples at the farmers market in Boston have been on the small side. There’s no real way to measure how many apples you will need based on their size. So instead of counting apples, I’ve left it in grams (measured after I chopped them). While I'm usually not big on preciseness, baking by weight seems genius to me.

The chunks of apple nestled into a dense cake provide enough sweetness on their own, so you will notice there is no added sweetener in the batter. The crunchy crumb topping utilizes leftover nut milk pulp (another sustainable kitchen win!) and a drizzle of coconut butter looks just like a glaze that conventionally is made from powdered sugar. 

Ingredients

apple coffee cake batter

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup unrefined coconut oilmelted

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour

• 1 cup sprouted brown rice flour

• 3 tablespoons arrowroot flour

• 3 teaspoons baking powder

• pinch of celtic sea salt

• 3/4 cup nut milk or water

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 250 grams chopped applesskin on

• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

crumb topping

• 1/4 cup leftover nut pulpor sub almond flour

• 1/4 cup coconut sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour

• 1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oilmelted

• optional: 2 tablespoons coconut butter melted

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a square baking dish and coat with additional brown rice flour.

Chop apples into roughly 1/2" cubes. If chopped too finely they tend to lose their flavor in the cake. After weighing, add to a small bowl and toss to coat with the cinnamon.

Mix together eggs and melted coconut oil in a medium bowl until well incorporated together. Add dry ingredients, vanilla extract, and nut milk or water. Mix thoroughly until batter is smooth. Fold the chopped apples into the batter.

In a small bowl make the crumb topping by combining all ingredients except the coconut butter with a spoon.

Pour batter into prepared square baking dish. Evenly sprinkle the crumb topping over the batter. Bake for 40 mins. 

As the name insinuates, this cake is best enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee. I'll be brewing decaf as a load of caffeine isn't my jam anymore, but follow how ya feel.

Once cool, you can add a “glaze” made simply by drizzling 2 tablespoons of melted coconut butter on top. Store apple coffee cake in the refrigerator up to 1 week, best heated before serving.