Gluten Free Easy Apple Coffee Cake Recipe

I wanted to start the year off with a much healthier recipe for you. I was digging through an old recipe book that the pages are falling out of (compliments of my time in college). I loved that book. I found it at the thrift store, and it's got the coolest selection of breakfast baked goods I've found anywhere. From pancakes and coffee cake, to sweetened quick breads and cinnamon rolls, there are tons of recipes to try in there.

I did notice, too, that all of the recipes are loaded with sugar. They include way more sugar than I'm used to having in my baked goods. So, I took the opportunity to cut out about a cup of sugar from this recipe, and it was still appopriately sweet. The whole grain flours make it hearty and filling (love that amaranth!) Keep in mind that amaranth has a bit of a strong flavor, but the sugary topping helps to compliment that flavor. I think you'll like this, even if you've never had amaranth before. I bought mine at Kitchen Kneads, and grind it myself.

I've decided (so far) there are three kinds of coffee cake toppings, and I'm trying to figure out which one is the best. There is the crisp approach, meaning the topping includes oats. This was my original approach, the one my mom uses (and that my camp friends liked too). The second type is the take-out-part-of-the-dry-ingredients and use it for the topping, like on the Mango Crumb Cake. I really like this approach too, especially if it includes a juicy fruit like the mango. I've also had it without fruit, just the topping. This is the third type - just brown sugar and fat, melted over the top in the oven (with the addition of walnuts here). This might be my favorite. It's sweet enough, and it's simple enough without the oats that it serves more as a topping than an entirely different note in the finished product. Quite good. Especially when the brown sugar caramelizes on the walnuts.

In honor of trimming the sweet, I'm linking to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, because I've actually health-ied something up lately!

Last Year: Orange Muffins with Fresh Cranberries
Two Years Ago: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies




Easy Apple Coffee Cake
adapted from Sunset Breads, 1994
[Printer Friendly]

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup amaranth flour

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup dairy free milk (I used hemp)

2 tablespoons oil

1 extra large Granny Smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1/3 cup brown sugar (still too much?)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons Spectrum Organic (palm) shortening)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix flours, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt in a large bowl. Add egg, dairy free milk and oil; stir until well moistened. Spoon batter into grease square pan, evenly smoothing the top. Arrange apple slices in rows over the batter. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and shortening, crumble over the apples. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake in a 350 degree oven unil the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan (about 45 minutes). The topping should be melty and bubbly, the walnuts toasted, and the edges of the cake puffing up around the sides. Let it cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 10 servings.