Cinnamon Coffee Cake
3 c good quality, blanched, fine grained almond flour
1/3 c whey protein powder - vanilla or unflavored (I only use IsoPure, can't speak to the quality of any other brand)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/3 sticks real butter
3/4 c mixture of granulated natural sweeteners of your choice (I like Ideal and Truvia or Just Like Sugar)
1/2 t liquid sweetener drops like Sucrarose, etc.
3 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c unsweetened coconut milk
Topping/filling:
3 T Ideal or other granular sweetener
2 T Brown 'sugar' type sweetener
2 t cinnamon
2 T real butter
1/4 c pecans, crushed or chopped
Grease or line a 9" pan with parchment. Preheat the oven to 350. Put the dry ingredients into a large bowl; almond flour, whey protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
Mix together the topping/filling mixture of the brown sweetener, white sweeteners and cinnamon in a small bowl and blend until all mixed together well. Don't add the butter or pecans to it yet. Set aside.
Mix butter and sweeteners until fluffy, add eggs one at at time and beat briefly between each. Beat in vanilla. Add the dry ingredients alternating with the coconut milk. Put half the cake batter into the pan. Cover with about 2/3 of your 'brown' sweetener mixture. Top with the rest of the batter.
Now add the 2 T butter and 1/4 pecans to the remaining cinnamon mixture and smash it with your fingers or a rubber scraper to blend and make a paste of sorts. Top the batter with this streusel mixture and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes. At this point your cake might be done, but I find almond flour baked goods need a little longer and the cake may start to be too brown on top. If your cake is still a bit too wet in the center or jiggles, yet the top is getting browned, cover with foil and bake about 5 minutes more; turn off the oven and let it for about 5-10 minutes more, checking to see if the center of your cake is set and done. My oven bakes this cake in a good quality (Rachael Ray) 9" pan for 35 minutes at 350, cover with foil, turn off the oven and leave for another 10-12 minutes and it's perfectly done.
Remove from oven and let cool completely. I line mine with parchment paper and after about 7 minutes cooling in the pan, I remove it and let it cool completely on a rack out of the pan but this isn't necessary if that seems like a hassle. :)
