Recipe: Vegan Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Did you ever just need to have cake for breakfast? Maybe that's just me.

 

But of course it's not just me because if it was coffee cake would not be so popular. And if coffee cake was some obscure thing, you would not be getting this recipe for the vegan version of America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two 2010's Overnight Sour Cream Coffee Cake. I'm so glad we live in a world where lots of people want to eat cake for breakfast.

You do not need to drink coffee to eat coffee cake, fortunately, because I don't drink coffee. (I have lots of reasons, but I don't begrudge you your coffee so long as you don't behave as some sort of coffee evangelist.) But it is nicer to eat it with a hot drink of some sort. I had ginger tea with this and it was lovely. I'm looking forward to experimenting with some variations on this basic coffee cake.

I did not make this as an overnight cake, though you can if you want. But I can't wait that long, so I baked mine right away. You do have to let it cool before you eat it and who has time to wait days for cake? But if you do want to make the batter a day ahead, cover pan with foil or plastic wrap after you sprinkle the streusel on top and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours, and add another 10 minutes to the baking time.

This is a little cake. You want to cook it in a 6-inch cake pan or equivalent.

Vegan Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Serves 4

Streusel ingredients:

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon vegan butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons chopped nuts (I used pecans but you could use walnut or almonds instead)

Cake ingredients:

3 tablespoons warm water

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

Cooking spray

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup vegan sour cream

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Before you get started, you will have a bit of prep work from the cake ingredients: make a flax egg by combining the warm water and flax seed and set it aside, and melt your 2 tablespoons of vegan butter and set it aside separately to cool while you make the streusel. If baking right away, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Using your fingers, combine all the streusel ingredients except the nuts until the streusel mix looks like coarse meal. (If your hands are especially warm you may end up with something that looks more like a paste. It's totally okay. It's going to melt in the oven anyway.) Stir in your nuts and set aside.

Spray your pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk your flax egg, sour cream, brown sugar, melted and cooled butter, and granulated sugar until smooth. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula, but do not overmix.

Put the batter into your prepared pan. Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over the top. (If making ahead, wrap it now and stick it in the fridge. Unwrap before baking.)

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it springs back lightly when touched or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.

Let the cake cool completely before serving.