Café Coffee Cake

I am not sure why someone started calling coffee cake, “coffee cake.”  Even before I became an avid coffee drinker, I loved the stuff.  It was moist, slightly sweet, had a crunchy-crumbly top and sometimes there were bits of spiced fruit swirled in.  Not a drop of espresso.  And it was a dessert I was allowed to eat for breakfast!!!

This version of coffee cake has a “cookie crumble” topping and is studded with a battery of berries—just the way I like it.  It taste delicious all by-itself, or paired up with a strong cup of coffee and honey.  I could practically eat this coffee cake every weekend, just changing up the fruit with the season.  I might even toss in a few chocolate chips and dried fruit amidst the dead of winter J

To make a traditional coffee cake, you cream butter and sugar before adding the eggs + other stuff.  Since creaming requires a solid form of fat, I used a mixture of coconut oil and Earth Balance margarine.  They work together to create an unbelievably “buttery” flavor.  Not to mention coconut oil ups the health benefits of the cake too! Win-win. The cake also tastes better if it sits for a day or two.  Once the cake cools to room temperature wrap it up in plastic wrap or aluminium foil.  Now you can sleep in and have yummy coffee-cake ready for breakfast.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup soy or almond milk

Juice of one lemon (1 – 2 tbsp)

2 tsp maple flavoring (optional, but extra drool-worthy!)

2 cups berries (I used blueberries)

2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour + a little extra for the fruit

1 tbsp lemon zest

2 heaping tsp cinnamon, divided

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup

4 tbsp cold Earth Balance + 4 tbsp softened Earth Balance

¼ cup room temp coconut oil (I used Spectrum brand as it doesn’t smell like coconut!)

4 –6 graham crackers, crumbled

1 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 flax-seed egg = 1tbsp ground flax seeds mixed with 2 tbsp warm water

Directions:

Get everything ready—you are going to need a lot of bowls for this recipe!  Preheat your oven to 350deg F.  Grease an 8inch spring form pan with coconut oil, making sure to thoroughly coat the sides.  In a small bowl or liquid measure, mix the milk with the lemon juice and maple flavoring (if using :P).

Prep the innards/berries. Toss fruit in a bowl (or shake in a sealable container) with about 2 tbsp flour and set aside. If you are using bigger fruit, such as apples or peaches, cu them up into about ½ inch chunks.

Make the crumbly-cookie topping.  Whirl the grahm crakers around in the food processor until they are coarse crumbs.  Mix in ½ cup fo the flour, ½ cup of the brown sugar and 1 of the heaping tsp of cinnamon. Cut the 4 tbsp of cold Earth Balance into 4 chunks and add to the food processor.  Whirl the ingredients a few times until the mixture resembles chopped nuts. Yum.  Now stick the crumb topping into the freezer until ready to sprinkle. (Warm crumb topping is mushy and not easy to scatter).

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Sift—or “fluff up” with a fork—the remaining 2 cups of flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt* into a  small bowl.

Toss in the lemon zest and remaining cinnamon into the flour mix.

*(Don’t forget the salt!!!  I know it seems inconsequential, but salt is crucial for all of the flavors to meld together.  Ever taste a bakery item and think, ‘huh? Something is missing…’ it is the salt my friend.  It pulls the flavors into one sensation and balances out sweet and muddy to rich and bright.  I could write a whole freaking post just about salt.)

Cream the oils and sugar.  In a large bowl, use and electric mixture to cream the remaining 4tbsp of Earth Balance and 4 tbsp coconut oil with the remaining ½ cup of brown sugar for at least a minute.  You should not be able to feel little granules of sugar in the oil anymore.  Slowly add the 1/3 cup of maple syrup, beating into the creamed sugar.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients. Starting with the dry ingredients, add one—thired of the flour mixture to the oil-sugar mix alternately with the milk-vinegar mixture. Mix with a spatula just until no floury streaks are showing.  Don’t overbeat!  Cake batter is delicate!  Fold in the flax seed egg and floured fruit.

Bake the coffee cake.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkles the crumb sopping evenly over the batter and bake for about 45min to 1 hr. (It could take up to and 1 ½ hrs depending on your oven).  The cake is done when a tooth pick comes out with some crumbs attached when inserted into the center.

Cool and serve the cake. Let the cake cool for an hour or more. Run a knife around the edge, remove the rim and prepare yourself for some serious deliciousness.

I served this coffee cake with some of my brother and father’s honey to make it extra indulgent.  It made a perfect afternoon treat with company J  Over the past weekend I also took this coffee cake down to my Aunt and Uncles for breakfast.  Needless to say, none of the cake came home with me.

Let me know if you make this coffee cake and/or what fruit combinations you come up with.  I am always on the pursuit for a new variation!

Cheers, kaite ;]