Coffee Cake (dairy free)

I discovered Joanne Chang while I was watching Unique Sweet and other cooking shows. She was pretty fun to watch in the Sticky Buns Throwdown with Bobby Flay. When I realized she wrote a cookbook, I searched for it at my local library. Flour is the name of her cookbook and also the name of her pastry shop. If I ever visit Boston, I will have to check out her café. 

After scanning through her cookbook, I bookmarked so many recipes and couldn't hardly wait to test them all. Most of her recipes called for dairy like butter and cream cheese, so I did make changes to her recipes to make them dairy free. 

I tested her coffee cake recipe because I was looking for something to bake for Brek's school breakfast. Her recipe called for cream cheese which I hate. I mean, I love to eat it. If cream cheese is called for in a recipe, it is very difficult to find a substitute as I don't use soy cream cheese. I decided to test it out with mashed ripe banana. Surprisingly, it turned out very moist and reminded me of a banana bread with crunchy streusel. Brek loves it, and I do too. It's been my go-to breakfast to bake for Brek ever since.

This is also a great way to use that ripen banana that I don't know what to do with it. When I have too many ripen bananas, I peel and freeze them for future baking. I usually add nuts to my recipes when I can. For the crunch. My favorite nuts are almonds and cashews. If you cannot have nuts in your diet, omit it in the streusel. I haven't tested this recipe without nuts or with other substitutes, but I think replacing the nuts with rolled oats or seeds is a good alternative.

I wrote this recipe using regular muffin pan. I've successfully baked this coffee cake using the half round loaf pan, a 8-inch square pan, and a bundt cake pan. The reason I've bake this recipe in many baking pans is because my kids eat with the eyes. Same recipe but different impressions. Feel free to explore the baking pan options. You may need to bake the cake a little longer so check the cake doneness using a toothpick technique after 15 minutes of baking. If I bake this coffee cake for Brek's breakfast, I usually bake it in a muffin pan for the easy grab-n-go.

Coffee Cake

adapted from Flour's New Old Fashioned Coffee Cake

makes 6 regular-muffin size

Batter

1 1/4 cups (5 oz) all-purpose flour

1/3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

5 oz granulated sugar

1/4 cup (2 oz) coconut or safflower oil

1 large egg

1 ripe medium banana (3 oz), peeled and mashed 

Streusel

1 1/2 Tablespoons (1.5 oz) light brown sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons (1.5 oz) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (1.5 oz) preferred nuts, toasted and chopped

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 1/2 (0.4 oz) all-purpose flour

1/2 Tablespoon (1 oz) coconut oil, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F degree. Line a 6-cup regular muffin pan with cupcake liners or spray the pan with vegetable oil. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking power, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg, sugar, and oil until creamy.
4. Whisk the flour mixture to the egg mixture until just combine.
5. Fold in the mashed banana.
6. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, making sure the batter is divided evenly.
7. To make the streusel, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
8. Divide the streusel evenly on top of the batter.
9. Using your finger, press the streusel right into the center of batter. Then spread the streusel to cover the hole.
10. Bake in a preheated oven until the toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.
11. Let cool before serving. Keep them in an airtight container at a room temperature for up to 3 days.  
     
Allergy Info: This coffee cake is free from or can be made without dairy, corn, legumes (soy), and fish. For nut free, substitute nuts with rolled oats or seeds and coconut oil with safflower oil.