Raspberry Walnut Coffee Cake (vegan, gluten-free)

Name: Raspberry Walnut Coffee Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 1 ¼ cups almond milk*; ½ tablespoon flaxseed; 1 teaspoon vanilla; ¼ cup maple syrup*; 1.5 tablespoons oil; 1 cup oat flour (measured after grinding, about 1 1/3 cups rolled oats); 1 cup walnuts (* ground into flour in a food processor); 1 tablespoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons cinnamon; ½ teaspoon salt; ½ cup instant oats (optional); ¼ to 1/3 cup raspberry jam (for swirling); Crumble topping:; ¼ cup walnuts (crushed); ¼ cup oat flour; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1.5 tablespoons turbinado sugar; ¼ cup rolled oats (optional); 1 tablespoon oil

by erika 49 Comments

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Oh myyyy.

This cake is bad news. Bad bad news.

It’s not your average coffee cake. It doesn’t use flour. It has no gluten. It calls for very little oil and no butter. Also, no refined sugar. But strangely, it’s still like, really sugary.

Basically, it’s pretty darn healthy which means you (if you’re like me) will find yourself racking your brain as to why, why you can’t just eat the entire pan. Healthy fats, fiber and protein in a sweet little dense, crunch-topped square of coffee cake.

I don’t really have much to tell you about my life, because my life has been making this coffee cake twice in two days.

(And eating it—I think I’m going to go (1) hide my scale and (2) delete all the posts I wrote about detox-ing. They just seem irrelevant right now.)

CAKE! It’s what’s for dinner. Magically, this cake neutralizes some types of bad breath.

The first time I made this, I didn’t add any of the oats (listed optional below), and the cake was magically sugary and syrupy and dense. I wanted more lift, so I added instant oats the second time around and it came out a little springier, with a chewer bite, but not in a bad way. My roommate actually preferred it. Rolled oats would make this even chewier and heartier. I’m undecided. At the moment, I would add rolled oats in the topping, but not in the cake base. But ask me again in five minutes.

Love and Lemons did this cake first, masterfully.

{Update!} A quote straight from the bf’s mouth: “At first I thought, ‘wow, she actually made a regular dessert!’ I didn’t know it was healthy until you told me it had walnuts in it. Also, I didn’t bring it into work because I wanted one more night to go to town on it *sheepish smile*”

Um, we are totally together for a reason. Make that ten million reasons.

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Raspberry Walnut Coffee Cake

This rich, dense coffee cake uses buttery ground walnuts in place of most of the fat and a swirled jam filling that adds sweetness without loads of refined sugar. Trust me, it still tastes totally decadent.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 16 squares

Calories 130kcal

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups almond milk*
½ tablespoon flaxseed
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup maple syrup*
1.5 tablespoons oil
1 cup oat flour measured after grinding, about 1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 cup walnuts * ground into flour in a food processor
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup instant oats optional
¼ to 1/3 cup raspberry jam for swirling
Crumble topping:
¼ cup walnuts crushed
¼ cup oat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1.5 tablespoons turbinado sugar
¼ cup rolled oats optional
1 tablespoon oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 and grease an 8x8 pan.
Combine all wet ingredients—milk, flax, vanilla, syrup, oil. Let stand while grinding the oats and walnuts into flour. It’s okay if the walnuts are still a little chunky—texture is good. Whisk together with the baking soda, cinnamon, salt and additional oats, if using.
Pour half the batter into prepared pan. Using a spoon, dollop lines of jam across the batter as evenly (or not) as you can. Swirl into swirly patterns. Pour the rest of the batter on top.
Mix up the crumble topping: add the walnuts to a bag and smash with something heavy (I used my measuring cup) until broken down into pea-sized crumbs. Toss with the oat flour, cinnamon, sugar and rolled oats if using. Stir in the tablespoon of oil until the everything starts to come together--mixture should be crumbly. Sprinkle the topping evenly across the top of the batter and bake for 25 minutes, or until browned on top and it springs back slightly when touched. Let it cool before you eat it, you heathen!

Notes

*You could use any milk, liquid sweetener and nut in place of the almond milk, maple syrup and walnuts, respectively.

Use gluten-free oats if you are strictly GF.

I used instant oats in the cake because they melted nearly imperceptibly into the batter, but you could use rolled oats if you don’t mind the oats loud and proud in your coffee cake.

I wouldn’t recommend subbing for the turbinado sugar as it gives the topping a fantastic crunch.

The jam tends to sink to the bottom of the cake after the first day, so it's best the day it's made. It will last, covered and refrigerated, for a few days.

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