Cinnamon Crunch Protein Coffee Cake (THM S)
This recipe made me so happy! Not only did it work on the first try, which can be rare for baking, it was easy to throw together before Sunday morning breakfast. This was my first gluten/sugar free coffee cake, and I could not be more pleased with the result.
If you have all the ingredients, this cake is quick and simple to throw together. I liked using protein as a big part of the base here for 2 reasons: it makes the cake texture more like coffee cake (sturdy and slightly dry) and it adds more protein to the cake (making it a great snack or finishing complement to an S breakfast or lunch).
First, get your dry ingredients together in a small bowl: almond flour, whey protein isolate, Pyure or THM Gentle Sweet, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.
Next is your wet ingredients: eggs, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla bean paste, and vanilla extract (yes, I like both because I like vanilla, however you can leave out the paste if you want.) Stir it up.
Then whisk the wet into the dry. The consistency is pretty wet, like runny pancake batter.
Get your pan ready, and make sure your oven is preheated to 350. I prepped my 8x8 baking dish with coconut oil spray and a square of parchment paper. I did it this way because I wanted to make certain the cake would slide right out of the dish. With the parchment in there, each piece came out perfectly, and the dish was easy to clean.
Prepare your topping by combining softened butter, cinnamon, Pyure or THM Gentle Sweet, and nuts. I chose to use sliced almonds but you could use pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts, whatever you fancy. It's going to look like a paste, that's OK.
Pour half of your cake batter into your prepared dish, dot it with half of the nut topping, then pour on the other half of cake batter and dot the top with the rest of the nut mixture.
If you want more of a streusel-like topping, you can add some coconut flour to the mix to dry it out and make it more crumbly but I do like how this turned out. The butter melts, making the cake moist and you still get the crunch of the nuts with the cinnamon sweetness.
Bake the cake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown delicious on top.
All of that topping sits just under the golden brown surface.
Gorgeous! Let it cool slightly before cutting.
Slice it into 9 pieces, and have you a piece, girl.
See? All that cinnamon, sweet goodness floating throughout the cake. The cake has flecks of vanilla bean and a crunch factor from the nuts. The cake is fluffy, sturdy, and slightly dry - making it the perfect partner with your coffee or tea.
This is a perfect make-ahead snack for the week. I've sent pieces with my husband to work, and heated it up as a snack. Just store the pieces in a large gallon zip-top bag in the fridge.
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