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Vegan Strawberry Crumb Cake

March 17, 2023 · Natalie 13 Comments

This vegan strawberry crumb cake features a deliciously soft gluten-free vanilla cake, sweet berry jam, and buttery crumb. Easy brunch baking!

Vegan Strawberry Crumb Cake (gluten-free)

Oooooh baby, do I have the PERFECT springy brunch cake for you! And this recipe probably also holds the title of Most Excessively Tested Cake To Ever Be On The Blog (Ten test batches? Twelve? I don’t even remember…), so if you follow the recipe just as written I can guarantee you it will come out just as gloriously fluffy, jammy, and streusel-y as pictured.

How To Make The Most Delicious Vegan Strawberry Crumb Cake

This is one of those recipes I’m going to break down layer by layer: cake > jam > streusel.

The Softest Vegan Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake

This is definitely the step the required the most testing. I was not settling for even a little bit of denseness or gumminess, only the perfect fluffy crumb would work. And all the moisture from that jam on top complicated that mission even more, but after enough flour tweaking we got there. That being said, these amounts are triple tested and will come out beautifully fluffy, but if you substitute anything or mis-measure (ideally use a scale and weight measurements!) I cannot guarantee the same result.

The flours. With egg and gluten-free baking, one flour alone is rarely enough. In this case we are using a combination of three different flours: gluten-free all purpose, almond flour, and coconut flour. Why all three?
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour. This makes up most of our dry ingredient blend and provides plenty of binding to avoid the necessity or any flax eggs or starches. But alone the result was too dense and gummy
- Almond flour. This adds a lot of richness and moisture, but alone wouldn’t have nearly enough binding ability.
- Coconut flour. The other two flours alone would be too moist and gummy, but the dryness of coconut flour balances that our with its super absorbent abilities and makes for the perfect defined crumb.
Baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Is two different leavening agents absolutely necessary? No. But they do work better together, and without eggs we want all the rise we can get.
Cane sugar. I wanted to preserve the soft light vanilla look and flavor, so I opted for cane sugar instead of coconut sugar. Regular white sugar will work, and I did include the option for subbing in coconut as well.
Dairy-free butter. I tried many times to use coconut oil or a nut butter, but it just messed up the lightness if the cake. Melted dairy-free butter works best, but a non-coconut oil (I tested with avocado oil) will be fine too.
Almond milk + apple cider vinegar. A.k.a. vegan “buttermilk” acts as our main wet ingredient, and the acidic addition of vinegar helps with the rise as well.
Vanilla extract.

The Jammy Berry Layer

Now this is where you can have some fruity customizing fun! I personally used my favorite store-bought, fruit-sweetened fruit spread from St Dalfour – the strawberry and red raspberry varieties because I couldn’t pick just one. You could swap in any of their other flavors or a combination, there are lots to choose from. Or you could make your own homemade fruit spread or fruit jam. And you could even layer in some fresh berries on top of the jam too.

The Sweet Streusel Crumb Layer

My favorite part! And so easy to make with just a few ingredients and a fork or your fingers to mix it all up. We are using…

Gluten-free flour. Of the three flours we used for the cake batter, this one works best from crumble topping making.
Coconut sugar. I know I know, I’m swapping flours on you. But coconut or brown sugar makes a MUCH richer streusel than cane sugar, it’s worth the switch.
Spices. I used a combo of ginger and cinnamon because I think both pair really well with berries, but you can add any you love.
Dairy-free butter. Or again you can use oil here, but the butter will add more flavor. I find it easiest to mix with melted butter vs cold.

More Brunch Baking Recipes You’ll Love

Vegan Strawberry Crumb Cake

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 65 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Yield: 16 slices 1x
Category: cake
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

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Description

This vegan strawberry crumb cake features a deliciously soft gluten-free vanilla cake, sweet berry jam, and buttery crumb. Easy brunch baking!

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups (248g) gluten-free flour
1 cups (112g) almond flour
1/2 (60g) coconut flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (220g) cane sugar or coconut sugar (150g)
1/2 cup (113g) dairy-free butter, melted (or avocado oil 100g)
1 1/4 cup (300g) almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup fruit spread of choice (I used a combination of St Dalfour Strawberry and Red Raspberry)

Crumble Topping

1/3 cup (50g) coconut sugar
1/2 cup (62g) gluten-free flour
2 tbsp (28g) vegan butter, melted (or avocado oil 25g)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease or line an 8-9” springform pan.
Add apple cider vinegar to the almond milk, stir, and set aside.
In a stand mixer (or you can mix by hand), mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
With the mixer running, stream in the melted butter. Mix 10-15 seconds.
Then stream in the almond milk mixture and vanilla. Mix until combined, the batter will be quite thick.
Spread into the bottom of the prepared springform pan.
Dot the top of the batter with St Dalfour Strawberry and Red Raspberry Fruit Spreads. Use an offset spatula to spread evenly over the top of the cake, leaving approximately ½ inch around the edges.
In a separate bowl, combine the crumble ingredients. Mix with a fork until sticky and crumbly. Sprinkle on top of the fruit spread layer.
Bake 60-65 minutes at 350°F.
Cool 30-60 minutes, then release from the springform pan.
Dust with powdered sugar, slice, and enjoy.

Keywords: gluten free, brunch, spring, berry, raspberry, fluffy, vanilla, streusel, healthy, almond flour

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Vegan Frosted Animal Crackers

February 26, 2023 · Natalie 5 Comments

Frosted animal crackers with a healthier vegan twist! Gluten-free shortbread cookies with a hint of cinnamon, naturally-dyed pink glaze, and lots of rainbow sprinkles make these homemade circus animals fun to make and so yummy to eat. Perfect to make with kids, or as a sweet childhood throwback recipe!

Vegan Frosted Animal Crackers (gluten-free)

How To: Homemade Circus Animal Cookies

We are pulling quite a few qualities from the original circus animal cookies – sweet shortbread cookie, subtle cinnamon spice, some of the same creatures, and of course the classic pink glaze and tiny sprinkles. But we are also making a few swaps and tweaks – vegan and gluten-free shortbread cookie, beet-dyed glaze, homemade with love touch, as many sprinkles as your heart desires.

Making The Vegan Gluten-Free Shortbread Cookie

I have a go-to grain-free shortbread recipe that I love, but it’s not super roll/cutout-able. So we veered quite a bit away from that recipe, and ended up with a one-bowl, no-chill, easy to work with shortbread dough that is perfect for animal crackers (and other cookie creations!) You will need:

Organic SunButter. That’s right, this is a moist “buttery” shortbread recipe without butter or even dairy-free butter because we have SunButter. Any of their creamy varieties will be fine here, but personally I love the Organic jar because it is unsweetened and salt-free. Ingredients: Organic Roasted Sunflower Seed. That’s it!
Avocado oil. I tried MANY batches with coconut oil and the coconut oil solidified and sank to the bottom when I rolled the dough out and made them spread weird and just…wasn’t good. Avocado oil worked 1000x better, vegetable oil or melted vegan butter would be fine too.
Cane sugar. You could try with coconut sugar, but for authenticity’s sake I went with cane sugar.
Agave or maple syrup. Yep, we are using a combo of sweeteners for this recipe. Honey works too if not vegan.
Vanilla extract.
Cinnamon and nutmeg. The traditional animal cracker uses mace, but nutmeg is close enough. And a little cinnamon, not too much.
Salt. As every sweet cookie needs.
~~Baking powder.~~ You’ll notice there is no leavener in this recipe because a) it’s a shortbread and b) SunButter + baking powder/soda = green cookies which is NOT what we are going for here.

Making The Naturally Pink Glaze

I had a few different ideas for the pink coloring – berries, dragonfruit, beet powder, beets, or food coloring. Any of the above would probably work, but I opted for beets and it turned out beautifully. Here’s how to make it:

Grate and “juice” the raw beet. I used a microplane to grate and just a paper towel to squeeze out the juice. a nut milk bag would work even better.
Whisk together powder sugar, water, and cornstarch. The starch is there to help the glaze set faster and reduce dripping off the cookies, you can skip it.
Add the beet juice (or your coloring of choice).
Dip your baked/cooled animal cookies.

You could also skip the pink entirely and just glaze in white with rainbow sprinkles. Still sweet, still cute, still very sprinkle-able.

Tips For Perfect Frosted Animal Crackers

Get the right cookie cutters. It’s pretty tricky to pull off this recipe without the proper cookie cutters, but the set I used are available on amazon for less that $10. There are other fancier cookie press sets, but you really don’t need that since we are going to glaze them anyways.
Use plenty of flour when you roll out the dough. Otherwise cookies will stick, cookies will break, lion legs will be lost, and we don’t want that.
Let the cookies cool completely before glazing. Otherwise the glaze will heat up/melt/run off too much, chilling the cookies before glazing is even better. When you dip, be sure to shake off the extra and still place on a wire rack so any excess can drip off.

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Vegan Frosted Animal Crackers

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 38 minutes
Yield: 60 cookies 1x
Category: cookies
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

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Description

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup (125g) gluten-free all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (125g) Organic SunButter
1/4 cup (50g) avocado oil*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (110g) cane sugar
3 tbsp (60g) agave or maple syrup

Glaze

1 1/2 cup (180g) powdered sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch**
2–3 tbsp water
1 tbsp beet juice (or a few drops red food coloring)

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat together SunButter, avocado oil, vanilla, sugar, and agave with a hand mixer until well combined.
Add dry ingredients, and beat again until it starts to ball together into a slightly sticky dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4″ thickness. Cut out cookies with mini animal cookies cutters, fitting in as many as possible. Re-roll dough and cut out more cookies. I got about 60 total.
Use a spatula to carefully transfer cookies to the lined pans, leaving a bit of space in between.
Bake 8-9 minutes at 350°F, until just brown around the edges. Cool 15 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze

Grate the raw beet with a microplane. Squeezing the grated beet in a towel to get out as much juice as possible (you only need one tablespoon).
Whisk together glaze ingredients until smooth and drizzle-able.
Dip each (cooled) cookie in glaze, then place back on the wire rack to let the excess drip off.
Top with rainbow sprinkles.
Allow the glaze to dry for 30-60 minutes, or until dry and hard to the touch.
Enjoy! Store in an airtight container, preferably in the fridge.

Notes

*Or another neutral flavored oil, not coconut. You could also use melted dairy-free butter.

**Optional, helps the glaze thicken/set faster and not drip as much. You can sub tapioca or arrowroot

Keywords: gluten free, homemade, diy, copycat, glaze, icing, pink, sprinkles, beet, shortbread, healthy, dessert, kids

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Raspberry White Chocolate Cookie Bars

February 14, 2023 · Natalie 2 Comments

Chewy cookie bars overstuffed with tart raspberries and sweet nibs of white chocolate. The perfect easy valentine’s (or anytime) dessert!

Finally getting around to writing these chewy cookie bars for the blog just a little late for valentine’s, but as we slowly inch closer to spring/summer baking I think a berry treat this easy and yummy will be apropos many other days of the year too. No wrong day for love, and no wrong day for chocolate plus berry baking!

Raspberry White Chocolate Cookie Bars (vegan + gluten-free)

Baking The Perfect Berry Cookie Bars

We’ve already given ourselves a big head start by opting for cookie BARS instead of cookie cookies – quicker to make and gooier chewier to eat? Umm…WIN WIN. But besides that exceptionally wise decision, this recipe is still really simple to make…

Raspberry White Chocolate Cookie Bar Ingredients

These bars are entirely vegan and gluten-free, with a grain-free option too. You will need:

Applesauce. Unsweetened please, and you can swap in yogurt instead.
Coconut sugar. Or brown sugar will work
Cane sugar. Or you can sub more coconut sugar, but the texture and taste is best with both.
Coconut butter. A little bit of tricky ingredient to track down, but it’s SO good in baking as a substitute for vegan butter. This is the brand I use, you want to warm/melt it and mix the oily parts with the thick before mixing into the batter. If you’d like to sub another nut/seed butter, I recommend almond butter or tahini in a 2:1 ratio with coconut oil.
Cassava flour. Or all purpose or gluten-free all purpose. I tested with oat flour…not thrilled with the texture but you can try it.
Cornstarch. Arrowroot or tapioca starch will work as well.
Vanilla, baking soda, and salt.
Raspberries. Fresh or frozen, I used fresh. If using frozen, do not defrost first.
White chocolate chips. Dairy-free to keep the recipe vegan, this is the brand I used.

How To Make These Yummy Cookie Bars

Make the batter. I used a stand mixer for even easier prep, but a hand mixer will work just fine as well. This is a one bowl recipe, so not too much clean-up either way. Beat the wet ingredients, add the dry, don’t over-mix.
Fold in the berries and white chocolate. This part does require a little bit of care. The batter is quite thick and fresh raspberries are a bit delicate, so fold very gently and/or just fold in the chips and wait to add the berries to the batter in the baking pan.
Bake. Twenty-five minutes max of waiting, but your gooey berry bars will be worth it. Let the cool before slicing too unless you want reeeeeally gooey bars.

You can serve these straight from the pan in your hand, in a bowl warm with ice cream on top, chilled from the fridge tomorrow…they are DELICIOUS in all of the above situations, trust me.

More Berry Chocolate Recipes You’ll Love

Raspberry White Chocolate Cookie Bars

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 16 bars 1x
Category: bars
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

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Description

Chewy cookie bars overstuffed with tart raspberries and sweet nibs of white chocolate. The perfect easy valentine’s (or anytime) dessert!

Ingredients

Scale

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup (165g) coconut butter*
1/2 cup (75g) coconut sugar
1/2 cup (100g) cane sugar (can sub more coconut sugar)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup (130g) cassava flour (can sub all-purpose)
1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch (or arrowroot/tapioca)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (120g) fresh raspberries
3/4 cup (135g) dairy-free white chocolate chips

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease or line an 8×8” pan with nonstick spray or parchment.
In a bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine applesauce, coconut butter (melted), coconut sugar, and cane sugar.
Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add vanilla extract and continue mixing to combine.
Add cassava flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low speed until just combined.
Gently fold in raspberries and white chocolate chips, saving some of each to add on top.
Press dough into the prepared pan. Top with more berries and chips.
Bake 23-25 minutes at 350°F.
Let them cool completely before slicing.

Notes

*You can sub with another almond butter or tahini, but use 1/2 cup seed/nut butter + 1/4 cup melted coconut oil.

Keywords: gluten free, white chocolate, blondie, baking, healthy, dessert, cookie, valentines, cassava, grain-free, berry

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Dairy-Free Frozen Yogurt Bites

January 31, 2023 · Natalie 5 Comments

Froyo but as a bite-sized snack! Easy, healthy frozen yogurt bites made with crunchy granola, dairy-free yogurt (with an extra creamy boost!), and your favorite fruit or chocolate chips on top.

Sweet little treats you can pop out of the fridge or freezer when the afternoon NEED SNACK thoughts creep in are one of any busy workday’s greatest joys. They are the fuel we need to finish that last project of the day or draft that email we’ve been putting off since 9am. They must be low maintenance to make, preferably plate/utensil free, and dessert-y enough to break up the savory-ness of lunch and dinner on either side without being all out decadent. A treat for the eyes is an added bonus too, of course. These Dairy-Free Frozen Yogurt Bites are just the thing!

With a crunchy granola crust, lightly-sweetened cold creamy yogurt middle, and fun fruity toppings of choice these are obviously very breakfast appropriate too. Or swap the fruit for a hefty handful or chocolate chips (or do a mix of berries and chocolate!) and you’ve got yourself a little froyo dessert cube moment too. There are endless frozen yogurt bite options and no wrong way to make them.

How To Make Frozen Yogurt Bites

It’s so simple you barely need directions or a video, but I have included both because I want to make sure you have the easiest time making these cute little froyo cubes.

Start by chopping the fruit into small slices or chunks. I used mango, berries, currants, dragonfruit (bought frozen and defrosted), passionfruit, and kiwi. Any fruit you love will be perfect though.
Next, whisk together the yogurt mixture. To make these bites even creamier after freezing, I like to add a bit of coconut cream to the dairy-free yogurt. If you are using a really thick coconut yogurt or dairy-free greek yogurt you might not need it, but personally I still recommend the coconut cream addition for best texture. A little bit of sweetener is a good addition here too, but optional.
Then grab your silicone ice cube trays, or a mini muffin pan works too but silicone is still best. Fill each with a spoonful of granola, just to cover the bottom.
And then top with layers of yogurt and fruit/chocolate chips to fill.
Freeze overnight, pop out, and eat! Let the defrost a little bit first though, much creamier that way.

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Dairy-Free Frozen Yogurt Bites

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Chilling Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
Yield: 24 cubes 1x
Category: snack
Method: frozen
Cuisine: american

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Description

Froyo but as a bite-sized snack! Easy, healthy frozen yogurt bites made with crunchy granola, dairy-free yogurt (with an extra creamy boost!), and your favorite fruit or chocolate chips on top.

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/2 cups (330g) dairy-free yogurt*
1/2 cup (100g) coconut cream (I love Edward & Son’s Let’s Do Organic Heavy Coconut Cream)
1–2 tbsp maple syrup or agave
1 cup granola
Fruits of choice and/or chocolate chips

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Instructions

Whisk together dairy-free yogurt, Heavy Coconut Cream, and sweetener.
Using a silicone ice cube tray(s), place a small spoonful of granola in the bottom of each cavity.
Top each with the yogurt mixture, filling about ¾ of the way.
Top each with chopped fruit and/or chocolate chips, submerging and adding until each cube is filled to the top.
Freeze overnight.
Pop out of the tray and enjoy! Keep leftovers in the freezer, I like to let them thaw 5-10 minutes before eating.

Notes

*I used Kite Hill plain almond milk yogurt. Any variety will work, the thicker the better!

Keywords: vegan, healthy, snack, granola, breakfast, kid snacks, coconut, fruit

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Creamy Chocolate Chia Pudding

January 26, 2023 · Natalie 3 Comments

All the healthy goodness of chia pudding without the chia texture, this CREAMY chia pudding is the easiest chocolate breakfast or dessert!

Blended Chia Pudding a.k.a. Your New Favorite Chia Pudding

Even if you’re already a chia pudding fan, trust me when you try out this blended variation you’re going to fall in love with it all over again. And yes of course you could make a non-chocolate version…but why would you when you could have TWO forms of chocolate, an optional protein boost, and endless choc-complimentary topping options?

Ingredients For This Creamy Chia Pudding

This recipe is dairy-free and vegan as written, but I’m leaving lots of room for personalization in this ingredient list:

Milk. Most any kind will work, but some will yield slightly different textures/tastes. My personal preference is a 1:1 mix of almond milk and full-fat coconut milk, the ideal mix of thick but not too rich for me. All coconut milk will give you a more solid/mousse-like texture. All almond milk will be slightly thinner, like a greek yogurt consistency. Oat milk, soy milk, cashew milk, etc will all yield a similar consistency to almond milk, just different tastes. And if you’re not vegan, feel free to use dairy milk instead.
Maple syrup. Or whatever sweetener you prefer, even coconut sugar or a granulated sweetener would be fine. You can also add more/less to your tastes, or if your milk is sweetened you may want to reduce or even omit.
Cocoa powder. Our first form of chocolate.
Chocolate SunButter. Our second form of chocolate is Chocolate SunButter, and a real game-changing chia ingredient. It adds richness, a little sweetness, the yummiest chocolate flavor. If you’re going for that DESSERT pudding, maybe add a little extra!
Vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
Chia seeds. An obviously important addition, although we won’t be seeing them by the end of this recipe.
Optional: protein powder. You can easily add in a few scoops of your favorite protein powder (chocolate or vanilla), but you may need a little extra milk to blend if you do. Or I love adding collagen to mine, you still get the extra protein but it doesn’t change the flavor at all.
Toppings!

Creamy Chocolate Chia Pudding (dairy-free)

Preparing The Creamy Chia Pudding

This is an overnight process, but you can prep a big batch and keep it in the fridge for an entire week of chocolatey snacking. Everything but the chia seeds is whisked together in one bowl (or blended) until well combined. Then add in the chia seeds and stir or blend until evenly distributed, you may have to wait a few minutes and re-mix if the seeds initially sink to the bottom. Cover and refrigerate overnight so the seeds have time to soak and soften and become easy to blend.

The next day just blend! On high speed for at least 30 seconds, you want it to be REALLY smooth. It will warm up a bit when you blend, so I like to re-refrigerate for an hour or so after blending so the texture can thicken. But up to you, you can also just add toppings and dig in.

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Creamy Chocolate Chia Pudding

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Chilling Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
Yield: 3 servings 1x
Category: chocolate
Method: blender
Cuisine: american

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Description

All the healthy goodness of chia pudding without the chia texture, this CREAMY chia pudding is the easiest chocolate breakfast or dessert!

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups (480g) milk of choice (I like a combination of almond + coconut)
2 tbsp (40g) maple syrup
1/4 cup (20g) cocoa powder
1/4 cup (65g) Chocolate SunButter
Pinch of sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (80g) chia seeds
Toppings of choice: granola, berries, dairy-free yogurt, chocolate chips, etc.

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Instructions

Whisk together milk, maple syrup, cocoa powder, Chocolate SunButter, vanilla, and salt until fully combined.
Add chia seeds and whisk to distribute. Wait a few minutes, and if the seeds sink to the bottom whisk again.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, blend in a high-speed blender until perfectly smooth (30-45 seconds on high). Add a splash of milk if needed.
Divide into bowls/jars. Refrigerate for 1 hour for a thicker texture, or add toppings and enjoy.
The leftovers can last in the refrigerate for up to a week.

Notes

*You can sub with chocolate protein powder to bump up the protein content. Or add unflavored/vanilla protein powder or collagen in addition to the cocoa powder.

Keywords: vegan, dairy-free, breakfast, dessert, chia, healthy, snack, blender, vitamix, meal prep

Vegan Strawberry Crumb Cake