So I just made this Coffee Cake, and it was really an experiment! But I enjoyed the way it turned out and thought that I should definitely share it with you as there are so many wonderful brunch opportunities coming up!
The experiment part was the strawberries! I first made the cake with strawberry puree, and it just turned out too rubbery and low in real strawberry flavor, so I had to go a different route. I swapped the strawberry puree for applesauce and added freeze-dried strawberries (no added sugar- just strawberries!) for concentrated flavor without extra liquid. The combination was wonderful. But dang! The color!!!
The freeze-dried strawberries are this gorgeous bright pink color and then it bakes up brown- what a bummer! That’s why I had to add the chopped strawberries to the top as a major nod to the inside and to make it prettier.
This cake is lightly sweet (and you can feel free to cut up to another 1/3-1/2 cup of sugar out and I think it will still hold up nicely) and has a great, moist texture and strawberry-apple flavor.
I drizzled it with a glaze, but you could also just do a nice sprinkle of powdered sugar too and it would be wonderful. Again, this is perfect for breakfast or brunch, but the girls love it for an afterschool snack too!
- Dry Ingredients:
- 41/2 cups all-purpose, gluten-free baking flour (I like to use Bobs Red Mill)
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon xanthum gum
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 ounces freeze dried strawberries (they sell these at trader joes)
- Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (the kind that comes in a carton in the refrigerator section)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup melted coconut oil
- Vanilla Glaze:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2-3 tablespoons coconut milk
- Optional cut up strawberries
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large non-stick bundt cake pan with coconut oil spray.
- In a small bowl combine the coconut milk and the apple cider vinegar and set aside.
- In a small food processor or blender, crush the freeze dried strawberries until powdered. If you don’t have that, you could try crushing them in a Ziploc until powdery.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine all of the dry ingredients and combine.
- Add in the apple sauce and the coconut oil, mixing to combine and then add the coconut milk/vinegar combination and whisk on high until you have a smooth fluffy batter, and then transfer all of the batter to the prepared bundt cake pan.
- Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 75 minutes and then let sit until completely cool. It will have fluffed up way past the edge of the pan, but I just trim that part off with a serrated knife and leave it for snacking!
- Turn the cake out onto a cake plate when cool and then prepare the glaze.
- For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and the vanilla and coconut milk until smooth and then spoon over the cake. Strawberries are optional! Slice and serve!
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