This apple cinnamon coffee cake is packed with apple cider flavor and topped with a cinnamon apple crumb topping! Gluten free, dairy free and paleo. Try my paleo cranberry coffee cake next.
I’m not going to talk your ear off today. Wait… type your eyes off? Regardless, I’m not going to mutilate you in the name of story telling.
Truth be told I’m exhausted because I’ve caught the cold that my husband has been fighting off for over a week now (shakes fist), I’ve been plowing through a big backlog of blog work I need to get done for the holidays and the cold weather just has me all sleepy.
Is apple cider paleo?
Apple cider comes from apples, which is a plant food that’s considered a part of a paleo diet – but I admit that it does contain sugar from those apples, but without the fiber you get from crunching into an apple itself.
So I treat apple cider the same way I treat any other ingredient in my paleo recipes – it’s all about moderation. I’m okay with it, but if you’re not that’s totally fine, too. That just means this might not be the recipe for you!
Ingredients for paleo apple coffee cake
Crumb topping:
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, solid (not melted)
- 2 medium tart apples, chopped
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped
Cake:
- 2 ¾ cups almond flour (aff link)
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut oil, solid (not melted)
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup apple cider
- ¼ cup almond milk, or coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Storing apple coffee cake
This coffee cake is based on this cranberry coffee cake I made last month, and I can’t pick a favorite. This one is more moist thanks to the addition of apple cider, but that also means it doesn’t last as long in storage.
This is best the same day or the next stored in an airtight container (preferably in the fridge), but I wouldn’t advise keeping it longer than that.
As far as I’m concerned, that makes it the perfect breakfast for when you know you’ll have a crowd! Christmas morning, brunch, or just a few people with really big appetites.
So take a slice (or two, I won’t tell) and pair it with your morning tea or coffee. If you’re not paleo, whip yourself up a little vanilla glaze and drizzle it on top – it gives it a little somethin’ somethin’.
Description
Ingredients
Crumb topping
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, solid (not melted)
- 2 medium tart apples, chopped
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped
Cake
- 2 ¾ cups almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut oil, solid (not melted)
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup apple cider
- ¼ cup almond milk, or coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
For crumb topping:
- In a medium bowl, whisk to combine 1/4 cup almond flour, 1/4 cup coconut sugar and pinch of cinnamon. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the coconut oil until completely combined and crumbly. Set aside.1/4 cup almond flour, 1/4 cup coconut sugar, Pinch of ground cinnamon, 3 tablespoons coconut oil
For cake:
- In another medium bowl, whisk together 2 3/4 cups almond flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.2 3/4 cups almond flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl, whisk together coconut oil and coconut sugar until well combined.1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- Add eggs, cider, almond milk and vanilla extract and use a wooden spoon to combine.3 eggs, 1/4 cup apple cider, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add dry mixture to wet mixture until combined.
- Press batter into prepared pan. Top with crumb mixture, chopped apples, and walnuts.2 medium tart apples, 1/2 cup walnuts
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely in pan. Cut into 9 pieces and enjoy!
Laurie
3 cups of “flours” with only 1 cup of liquid (eggs, coconut oil and almond milk) is not enough to make this moist….it was so dry everything fell apart…couldn’t even eat it. I couldn’t even stir it, because it was so dry, I baked it anyway after finally getting it combined thinking it would bake ok. Nope . Pretty disappointed ☹️ as it looked so moist
Leslie Haasch
I’m sorry that this didn’t work out for you! I’ve made this many times and have never run into the issue that you did, so I’m disappointed for you as well. Did you include the apple cider? (I just noticed you didn’t list that in your comment as one of the liquids, so I want to double check)
Anonymous
I did yes. Afraid to try again and waste all the flours lol ?
Laurie
In steps 2-4 you mention almond flour, coconut sugar, and coconut oil more than once…..I’m not sure when to add what ingredient? Someone help? I’m ready to make it now!
Leslie Haasch
Sorry for the confusion! Looks like when I changed recipe plugins, I lost the headings in the recipe. I’ve manually updated it now to show that one of those is for the crumb topping, and the other is for the cake itself. Thanks for pointing this out!
Laurie
Awesome thanks so much! Can’t wait to try!
Cindy
Looks delicious! I have so many frozen apples from the fall harvest I’m definitely going to give this a try.
babylovesberry
My favorite apples are fuji, do you think it will work here? Or should i just get granny smith? thanks
Leslie Haasch
Fuji would work!
Stacey
Making these soon! They look and sound brilliant, I love that they are paleo!
Lois. O
Yummy! I am not paleo, and I don’t think I have tried gluten free baking before. This cake texture looks just perfect though, and I just might give it a shot!
Leslie Haasch
Please do, and I hope you love it!
Julie
You had me at cake for breakfast! I love dessert that is appropriate to eat before 9am. ;)
Leslie Haasch
Heck yeah – cake for breakfast FTW!
Carol Borchardt
This looks perfect for a Paleo personal chef client of mine! She’s starved for good Paleo desserts!
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
I certainly hope you’re filling better!! Nothing worse than having a lot to do and no energy in which to do it! Now the coffee cake sounds fantastic and very moist. What a great snack or sweet treat in the morning.
kate
YUM! There can never be too many apples and cinnamon these days! It never gets old. :)
Saima Zaidi
Mmm…. love the ingredients in this coffee cake! It looks yum!
Renee Gardner
These little coffee cakes look delicious!
Monica
This looks great, and I would love to have another use for all the apple cider I can’t resist buying at this time of year! I hope you feel better soon. :)
westviamidwest
Now this is a sweet I can wrap my head around,….. we’re new to the Paleo diet and will definitely be trying this!
annie@ciaochowbambina
Is there anything better than coffee cake when we need comforting?! This looks divine!
Abby
Your cake looks beautiful and perfectly moist! I hope you feel better soon.
Leslie Haasch
Thank you so much – me too! Just want to get the sickness out of the way before the holidays :)