The Weather in Cascadia: peach coffee cake with hazelnut streusel, gluten-free & dairy-free

Yesterday turned itself into a sort of kitchen marathon, despite the muggy heat that filled our apartment, made worse by the oven's 350 degree status for a couple of sweaty hours. But, when a girl needs sweets, and the snack cupboard is bare, she'll go to great lengths and risk heat stroke in order to feed the craving. I made this coffee cake with peaches and a sugary, hazelnut topping to give things a little crunch. And when that was all baked and cakey and out of the oven, I threw together some oats and nuts and honey for a future breakfast of granola.

I burnt the granola (sigh...).

Household dialogue:

Me: Babe, I burnt the granola.

Sweets: Ohhhh, is it hella burnt? (yes, hella is used in our household)

Me: No, not hella. I mean I'm gonna eat it anyway.

Sweets: (tasting) Well, I like it. I think it woulda been really good if it wasn't burnt. (what a comfort)

Me: Well, it's not going on the blog.

(double sigh....)

So this post is about coffee cake. Not granola.

This cake is actually my second attempt at a recipe inspired by this one. The first time I liked what I created but wasn't swooning over it. (Swooning is a definite plus when it comes to baked goods). Somehow, half way through the recipe I developed Dyslexia and added twice as much almond extract and half as much vanilla as I should have. Definitely an almondy sort of extravaganza in the mouth, that first cake. And the edges were dry. Like - you better have that coffee ready for dunkin' or else you might choke on that last bite - sort of dry.

Of course we ate it anyway.

So, yesterday, I put my experiment pants on and played around and tweaked and guessed on how I might make it better, and of course, triple checked the measurement of almond flavoring.

Mmmmm, a definite improvement. And worlds better than the granola (I may never get over it). Moist cake, crunchy streusel, peaches everywhere. Yes, peaches. Everywhere.

OK, so it may have been the heat, but I definitely felt a hint of a fainting spell in the works. And my sweetheart was hella pumped. About the cake. Not the fainting.

So success! Happy August, friends!

Peach Coffee Cake with Hazelnut Streusel

inspired by this recipe at Gluten-Free Goddess

makes 1- 9" cake

gluten-free, dairy-free

GF Flour Blend:

3/4 C. sorghum flour

1/4 C. teff flour

1/2 C. amaranth flour

1 1/2 C. potato starch

1 C. tapioca starch

whisk all ingredients together. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

***Note: If you aren't interested in buying a bunch of different flours or don't have a variety of GF flours available to you, just use 1 1/2 C. of sorghum flour in place of the first 3 ingredients in this flour blend. I felt like adding some whole grain goodness to my recipe, hence the teff and amaranth.

Coffee Cake:

1 C. GF flour blend (see above)

1/2 C. brown sugar, packed

3/4 C. almond meal

1/2 C. tapioca starch

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp. salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 C. + 1 T. coconut oil, melted

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

6-7 T. almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)

3 medium peaches, half sliced and half diced into 1/2-inch pieces

Topping:

1/4 C. + 1 T. brown sugar

1/4 C. sorghum flour

1/4 C. coconut oil, melted

3 T. chopped hazelnuts

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch cake pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper cut to fit.

In a large bowl, whisk the first 8 ingredients (the dry ingredients) together.

Add the beaten eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, almond extract and 2 T. milk. Beat by hand to combine.

Batter will be thick and very sticky. Add more milk, 1 T. at a time, beating after each addition, until the batter becomes loose and smooth. I added 5 more T. of milk (or 7 T. total). Fold in chopped peaches.