I rarely crave sweets or baked goods, but once a year or so I crave an old fashioned cinnamon 'coffee cake'. In the past I've posted a couple recipes for regular versions that have sugar and flour in them; if you are interested you can find them here - Coffee Cake with Streusel Layer and Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake. Those are both SO good and even easier to make because they started with a yellow cake mix. If you want or need a healthier version without white, refined flour and sugar, preservatives, etc. then this is a great choice. This version is VERY similar to the recipes I posted back in 2010 and 2011 that use regular flour and sugar but I don't feel a bit guilty eating this one! (We have no wheat allergies nor are gluten free in our family - we eat this way by choice but can eat sugar and flour as well if we were to choose to.)
If you wanted to, you could actually make one of the two previous versions with a store bought sugar free cake mix if you can't have sugar but you can have flour and don't mind the carbs nor the store bought mix. My Publix and Walmart Grocery both carry the Pillsbury Sugar Free Yellow Cake Mix - 16 oz
so they are easy to find. However, I know that for me personally I can't eat more than one small piece a day due to the sugar alcohols it has in it or I will pay dearly with bathroom issues. (My husband can eat 3 pieces of that cake and have no issues at all. Everyone is different!).THIS cake however is from scratch. And it's good. And moist. And is really close to the original full sugar version. I love it and when I'm craving that 'Grandma's Cinnamon Coffee Cake" this fits the bill.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
3 c good quality, blanched, fine grained almond flour (Honeyville or Bob's Red Mill are good)
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 (which I end up using Splenda Brown because it's sol literally almost everywhere and is easy to find. It does have a tiny amount of real sugar in it, but Ideal stopped making brown and I used to love theirs. Just Like Sugar does a brown option but they are expensive and I don't have them on hand right now.)
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. :)
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Brown Sweetener: 16 oz by Just Like Sugar
Bob's Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour, 16 Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)
Rachael Ray 46681 9" with Agave Blue Handles Cucina Nonstick Bakeware Square Cake Pan, Medium, Latte Brown
Isopure Whey Protein Isolate, Unflavored, 3 Pounds (Packaging May Vary)
Ideal No Calorie Sweetener 10.6 Ounce Baking Bag
