Meatless Monday: Pear Almond Coffee Cake

I must admit that even though I adore coffee cake, I’ve never tried to make one on my own. In culinary school I remember seeing one in a demonstration and I’ve eaten a few vegan versions over the years that were full of vegan butter and sugar. With the rainy cold weather I decided to roll up my sleeves and start experimenting. I was really surprised at how delicious it came out since baking is a science and can easily lead to disaster. It’s so amazing it’s heading straight for my cookbook!

Since it’s winter I wanted to add a winter fruit to the topping. Pears seemed like the perfect choice and since they are naturally very sweet I would be able to use less sugar. I also wanted to use less oil and no Earth Balance, so I chose delicious coconut oil and used applesauce in the cake to be able to reduce the oil. This made the cake so moist and delicious! I can pretty much bet you are going to love this coffee cake. I use coconut palm sugar, but if you can’t access it feel free to use another unrefined granulated sugar instead. And you can use another flour but I can’t guarantee the results will be the same. This cake is wheat-free, but not gluten-free as barley flour has some gluten.

Pear Almond Coffee Cake
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Topping:
1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pear small chunks

Cake:
1 cup barley flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup rice milk mixed with 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:
Prepare topping by mixing together all the ingredients except pear until well combined (I like to use my hands for this). The texture will be crumbly and dry. Stir in pear. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. For the cake whisk together first six ingredients in a medium bowl. In another bowl whisk together the coconut oil and sugar. Stir in the rest of the wet ingredients until well combined. Fold in wet to dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Pour in lightly oiled 8×8 baking dish (or similar size). Sprinkle topping mixture evenly over the top of the cake and gently press in. Bake uncovered for 60 minutes. Test with a toothpick and if it comes out clean the cake is done.