"Barbarian Coffee Cake"

 

This recipe is based on my grandmother's Barvarian Coffee Cake recipe which had a LOT more sugar, fat and refined flour.  I've veganized it and made it a vehicle for lots of fruit!

I doubled this recipe so that I could do apricot & plum - and put them in the same pan.  I also added some pitted cherries because - why not? You can use any fruit -- you can put applesauce in the batter and put a (strained) can of pineapple or canned cherries on top. 

Bowl 1 - Sift together

• 1 c whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 c almond flour 
• 1/2 c white flour (optional if you are using whole wheat pastry flour0
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

Bowl 2 - wet

• 1/2 c sugar (I used turbinado but sucanat would be good, too - I like the molasses flavor)
• 
  ~1 c fruit purée
• 1/2 c melted coconut oil or neutral oil / vegan butter
• 1 Tb almond extract
• 1 tsp vanillazest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• water or plant based milk as needed

Thoroughly blend each bowl then add wet to dry.

Plum was processed through the Vittorio food mill which results in a much messier process in the kitchen but plum skins don’t shred very well in the blender in my experience.

I processed the apricots in the blender to make the purée.

The batter should be really thick but not so stiff that you can’t mix it so add liquid to loosen it up.

As you can see I did apricot and plum. 

I used 2 part tart pans, so I don’t want the batter to be so thin that it’s going to leak out the bottom.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 min - wooden toothpick inserted near the center should come out clean. Glaze with melted jelly - In this case I used leftover apricot syrup from the process of making glacee apricots.

Be careful to not overfill your cake pan -- once the baking powder/soda start working, you may have a bit of spillover.  Put a cookie sheet below your cake if you are concerned about overflow. 

 

Plum Coffee Cake

Tomorrow is the East Bay Vegan Bake Sale - I wanted to make something that could be made for a reasonably affordable amount (making the final product cheaper!) and which could be made in quantity and that would use some of my fresh/local yummy ingredients.  Originally, I thought of making my favorites - lemon bars, chocolate peanut butter cups and such but since I haven't had a good coffee cake lately ... well...

A coffee cake with plum topping seemed like the ideal choice - and being too lazy to convert my grandmother's Bavarian Coffee Cake recipe (I swear! I will do it one day soon!) - I took inspiration from VeganYumYum's Apple Pie Coffee Cake recipe.  Here's my spin, resulting in ...


Crumble Top Cherry Plum Coffee Cake:


FRUIT TOPPING:
1 qt bag of plum puree (that good stuff leftover in the jelly bag from making jelly last summer with the cherry plums)
1 c succanat

Set puree & succanat on the stove on low to simmer - reduce til thick, at least reduce by 50%.

CRUMBLE TOPPING
1 c oats
1 c flour
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c melted coconut oil
1 tsp cinnamon

Blend all ingredients til you can cake them together with your hands and crumble into bits - yum.

CAKE

2 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 c unbleached flour
1 c unrefined granulated sugar
1 c succanat
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

3 tsp Mexican cinnamon (ceylon cinnamon)
2 tsp ground cardomom
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
2/3 c canola or grapeseed oil (or a blend)
2/3 c plum puree
1 1/3 cup almond milk + 2 tb apple cider vinegar
3 tb En-R-G Egg replacer
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients - should be very thick, almost like a dough - it will rise and goodness will happen.  Lightly oil your pan(s) - I decided to use a springform pan and two tart pans.  Press down the dough with a nice flat silicone spatula, push the sides up a tiny bit like a border.  Ladle in your cooked down plum goodness.  Sprinkle on the crumble topping.  Put into the oven at 350 - you want the cake to cook all the way through, and rise, so don't take it out too soon or you'll have soggy centers.

Tomorrow I'll take the coffee cakes and a dozen or so dark chocolate chipotle caramels, over to the East Bay Vegan Bake Sale.  11a-4p, 20 Glen Ave, Oakland (just off Piedmont)  in front of a shop called "Issues."