Moist fluffy oat flour cake with two layers of cinnamon streusel and a silky glaze on top–this Vegan Coffee Cake is a delectable baked morning treat!
Sometimes when I finally crack a tricky recipe and am completely in love with how it turned out I cannot wait to share. I want to shoot the video as fast as possible, edit even faster, and have it posted yesterday. My excitement turns into an urgent need for you to know all about whatever this tasty treat is too.
Other times I stall. Stare at the photos a few more times. Reshoot the last clip of the video, the fork/bite shot–always the trickiest one. Tuck it all away inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder next to all the other soon to be blog posts. And wait. For the perfect occasion, even though I’m not really sure what I’m waiting for. It’s not like there is an International Post That Coffee Cake Recipe You’ve Been Hoarding Day or anything.
Perhaps the length of desired waiting-before-posting time is in direct relation to the number of batches it took to get the recipe right. More trials = stronger urge to save it for longer. Giving myself time to let the frustration of five trials be replaced by pure joyful anticipation. I’m not sure, I don’t really understand it either.
But after holding onto this sweet streusel-covered breakfast cake for a few weeks now I realized that spring is almost here which means cozy spiced cakes are soon to be replaced by creamy sweet ice creams. So before this tricky-but-so-tasty cake goes out of season and I am forced to put a scoop of ice cream on top just to make it relevant, let’s get into the recipe…
Coffee cake. Sounds simple, right? I was pretty confident going into this recipe–date-sweetened cake, almond flour streusel, coconut butter glaze–piece of…wait no that’s too easy. But when the moisture from the dates plus the unforeseen added moisture from the mid-cake streusel layer combined, it was a sinking mushy cake catastrophe. A catastrophe that you want to be on the cleanup crew for I should add, but still not pretty.
Determined as I was to stick with the dates for sweetness and definitely not willing to give up the double-decker streusel, I thought maybe a different size/shape pan would fix the problem. Or maybe longer cook time and a different pan? Or maybe a lower oven temp and longer cook time and a different pan? No. The answer is no to all of the above.
Something had to give. And while very deep, my love for dates could not compete with my love for streusel. Bye dates.
That’s when things started to look up for this vegan coffee cake…
A combination of coconut sugar and applesauce to replace the sweetness and some of the moisture from the dates. Oat flour for the dry ingredients since it is a breakfast cake after all. The powerful trio of baking powder, baking soda, and lemon juice for a fluffy texture. And two cinnamon-spiced streusel layers, my favorite part.
It’s moist and light with a perfect crumb. No sinking center, and no streusel had to be compromised. The idyllic partner for a mug of weekend morning tea or coffee, but a pretty perfect glaze-drizzled slice of dessert too!
Vegan Coffee Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Moist fluffy oat flour cake with two layers of cinnamon streusel and a silky glaze on top–this Vegan Coffee Cake is a delectable baked morning treat!
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 3/4 cup oat flour
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup non-dairy milk (I used light coconut milk)
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsps lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Streusel
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Glaze
- 1/4 cup coconut butter
- 1–2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2–4 tbsp nondairy milk
Instructions
- In a blender or large mixing bowl, combine all the cake ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, combine the streusel ingredients and mix with your hands or a fork until crumbly.
- Line a 8×5″ glass dish (or a standard loaf pan works too) with parchment paper or lightly grease with coconut oil.
- Spread half of the cake batter into the bottom of the pan (it will be a very thin layer).
- Cover with half of the streusel mixture.
- Top with the remaining cake batter and then the rest of the streusel.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350F.
- For the glaze, just barely melt the coconut butter. Stir in the maple syrup, and then slowly add the nondairy milk until the texture becomes smooth and drizzle-able. (Don’t worry, it will clump up initially when you add the milk, but keep going and it will smooth out again.)
- Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes before glazing, slicing, and eating.
Nutrition
- Calories: 330
- Sugar: 23
- Fat: 12
- Carbohydrates: 48
- Fiber: 5
- Protein: 8
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That texture!! Oooooph so beautiful. I’m very excited you’re finally sharing this gorgeous streusel-y goodness with us. It sounds like a serious labour of love, which only makes it more special. And the coconut butter glaze – hnnnng!
P.S. loving the lil blog makeover!
I am totally excited for ice cream and cold creamy treat season to hit and all, but I am also grateful this little spring chilly spell to get all the cozy food cravings out of my system. And thank you!! A fun little impromptu weekend project 🙂
OMG seriously the texture/crumb on this looks DIVINE! So sad about the dates, but it looks like it came out just as dreamy and delicious as you envisioned in the first place! And that glaze…drooling. I absolutely need a fat slice of this after Monday. Love love love!
It was a little sad…just when I thought they could do everything haha. Still ALMOST everything 😉 I can’t blame them entirely, I was a little bit streusel greedy. But monday is better with excessive amounts of streusel, yes? Thanks Sara!
I’m SO glad you decided to finally release this bad boy! I also came to the realization that this month might be our last chance to release all the cozy, warm treats before ALL the ice cream came at us! Lol. Let me just say though, for the record, that I’d definitely take a humongous slice of this coffee cake with a generous topping of ice cream… ahem. 😉 Any way you’ll serve it, I’ll take it, Nat! I’m drooling over the glaze… Happy Monday my dear! xo
It’s a scary realization isn’t it? And exciting because ice cream. But also a little sad…so all the breads and baked goods all month long, yes? Ooh yes ice cream on coffee cake, now we are talking❤️ Thanks my dear!! xo
Do you think it would work if I replaced applesauce with pumpkin puree?
I am dying to make this!
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Yes absolutely! Might even be better that way 🙂
Hi! I don’t have baking powder at home, any ideas of how could I replace it?
Hmm you could try just using the baking soda, but it won’t be quite as fluffy. If you are not vegan eggs would help too!
This is such a stunning cake! I love the crumbly topping and the way the bright airy light hits the cake in these photos!
The slightly overcast but still bright lighting was certainly on my side this particular day 🙂 Thank you Nisha!
Natalie! I live for streusel, and it is really hard to make it plant-based, so good for you!! Yum, and the cake texture looks faint-worthy. Can you send it over fast? In fact, just set up a mail-order business – I’ll order it for each of my family-members birthdays!! We are such streusel fanatics over here.! Dee xxxxx.
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Me. Too. Streusel is such amazing stuff, possibly even better than frosting in my opinion. And definitely even better without the butter! Haha loving the sound of this business venture, now if only I could find some streusel-safe packaging 😀
Love Natalie!!! Love, love, love. Oh, I LOVE coffee cake!! Can you sense my excitement?? One of my all-time favorite classics to eat and it doesn’t even have to be with coffee, lol! I love the classic sweet cinnamon flavor of coffee cake in the cake and streusel…it’s a sweet cinnamon lovers dream. Which, I basically live for cinnamon. Loving all of the ingredients. My favorites to use and I know how well the almond flour works as a streusel having recently done it in on my streusel muffins, so I can only imagine it’s equally yummy on cake, too!! Can you please send me a giant slice?? I love the buttery flavor it adds. I love streusel to be sweet and crunchy and to where even when one little crumble falls on the plate, you make sure to gobble it up…know what I mean?? I’m a sucker for classic pecans in coffee cake, so I always like the added crunch. Have you ever had them with the pecans? So good!
Your muffins and this cake could be cousins. Sweet delicious streusel-heavy cousins 😀 Mmm yes, the fallen streusel pieces as you eat that are all waiting to be cleaned up afterwards are one of my favorite parts! Messy in the best way. I thought about making pecan flour and using that for the streusel instead, but I figured most people wouldn’t want the extra step. It would be yummy though since that is the classic coffee cake nut. I certainly don’t need the coffee to enjoy cinnamon-filled cake either 🙂 Thanks Brandi!
That’s so funny! Because that’s my exact plan one day, the pecan flour! I’m dying laughing! Although I’ve thought of pecan butter too since I’ve used that many times. So funny you mentioned that. But yes, almond flour is quicker! Anyways, yummy, I want a huge slice right now!
Hahahahaha now way!!! Well if we both thought of it then someone needs to make it already 😀
IS THERE NOTHING THAT OAT FLOUR CAN’T DO!? OMG. The crumb on this cake is just PERFECTION. Also, if I haven’t told you already i LOVE the new look around here. What recipe plugin are you using??
It does seem to be an unstoppable flour force now doesn’t it!? Oh and I just switched to WP Recipe Maker 🙂
I don’t have oat flour :-/ can I substitute it with quinoa flour or rice flour? Otherwise can i easily make oat flour by grinding rolled/ quick oats?
Hi Mary! You can definitely make your own oat flour with rolled or quick oats in a blender, that’s what I did in this recipe and do all the time. I cannot be sure if the other flours will work since I haven’t tried them, but quinoa is more likely to than rice. Hope that helps!
Sweet!! Thank you ?
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This looks so incredible Natalie, and the video for it is sooooo beautiful! This is such a delicious cake, and I love how healthy it is too! Amazing!! <3
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Thank you for watching Harriet! If healthy cake = cake for breakfast than I am all for it 🙂
Wow, that looks incredible. What a wonderful idea.
Thanks Em! It is so cozy and scrumptious with all that streusel 🙂
Any suggestions on what to use instead of almond flour for the streusel?
Oat flour will work, but you’ll need to add some sort of fat source to the streusel or it will be really dry. Try doing: 1/3 cup coconut sugar + 1/2 cup oat flour + 2-3 tbsp melted coconut oil + 1 tsp cinnamon. Hope that helps!
Natalie, this looks fabulous and will be making this weekend on our camping trip. As you know I’m in a tiny house so I don’t have a lot of options on all these different size pans bloggers use. What do I need to change if I use a round 9′ pan or a 8×8 square one?
It will bake fine in either of those pans, the tricky part with a larger pan is spreading the batter thin enough between streusel layers. You could leave the amounts as is and do a top layer of streusel only. Or if you want both streusel layers, I would probably 1.5 times everything. Baking time will be roughly the same, maybe a little less so start with 35 mins and go from there 🙂
This is the perfect recipe to enjoy with a cup of tea Nat! Definitely going to try it out 🙂 J
The name is a little bit warm-beverage biased now isn’t it? But yes that sounds perfect too!
Now this coffee cake, my dear, will NEVER go out of season! That fluffiness is unreal and that streusel thickness is insane! I would love a big slice to go with my coffee please and thanks 😉
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Okay you bring the coffee I’ll bring the cake–extra frothy vanilla latte with coconut milk please!! Haha yes coffee cake in the middle of summer, I am all for that 🙂
I am such a sucker for coffee cake! Can’t wait to give this a try! And I am totally topping mine with a huge scoop of banana “nice” cream 🙂
Mmmm that sounds like a glorious idea!! Possibly better than a brownie sundae to me because streusel 🙂 Enjoy Allison!
Hehe…International Post That Coffee Cake Recipe You’ve been Hoarding Day 😉 Wouldn’t that be something? All of the trials and reshooting makes this cake recipe all that more special. It’s a big reveal and I couldn’t imagine sitting on this one for very long – it’s amazing!!!! Double cinnamon-y streusel layers is the stuff that dreams are made of. OMG. I’m sure it was hard to let go of the dates, but it looks like it was worth it. The texture looks absolutely perfect, Natalie!!! Gosh, the magic of oat flour – I can definitely see why it’s a go-to for so many people. Would it be bad if I just made the streusel and glaze? 😉 No, I’m kidding…kind of. Hope you’re having a great week, my friend! <3
Hahaha just a bowl of streusel and a spoon–now that sounds like my kinda recipe! Hmmm perhaps we can write it off as “cereal” of some kind if we throw a little milk in there and some fruit on top 😀 I like the way you think. Now I am onto hoarding this ice cream recipe, so we may need to tweak the name of that holiday ever so slightly. Thanks Mandy <3
Has anyone tried making a bigger version of this coffee cake? like a sheet pan’s worth?
As long as the pan isn’t any deeper, just wider, it will be fine. If it’s a lot deeper or thicker the center won’t bake through properly. So maybe double the recipe and use a casserole-sized dish (13 x 9″), that would be my best recommendation 🙂
Oh my oh my!!! Coffee cake is one of those things I reeeally miss since going vegan and haven’t been able to nail myself just yet. This looks AMAZING. I totally feel you on the “wanting to shout to the world immediately” when a recipe comes out perfect hahaha. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Hi Natalie. I am planning to try this out this weekend most likely. Do you think there is a way to make it kids friendly in terms of nut allergies. I was going to try this out to have my son take it to school as a treat for all for his birthday but not sure what to do with almond flour and coconut butter as schools don’t like nuts these days… Any suggestions?
Totally understand! For the almond flour you could sub any nut or seed meal, seeds are usually okay with schools, yes? My top suggestion would probably be hemp seeds. Just grind them in the blender until they are quite fine and then make the streusel with that instead of the flour. You could use oat flour for the streusel but it will require a lot more maple syrup and still be drier after baking. For the coconut butter, you could just skip the glaze entirely, it’s really good without. Or just go with a basic powdered sugar glaze like this one: http://houseoflovelock.com/?p=5717 Or even thin out vegan yogurt and drizzle that on top, although it won’t harden the same way. I hope that helps, let me know!