Lauren's Vegan Coffee Crumb Cake

My cousin Lauren has been a vegan for years. The two of us were discussing how being vegan definitely does NOT mean that she does not like good food. Lauren is ALL about good food, as she should be.

She is famous for her vegan chocolate chip cookies. Honestly, I don’t know how she does it. I have tried to make her cookies ("veganized" as well as with butter and eggs) and mine just do not come out as well as hers. She's got the magic touch.

Last night around midnight, Lauren was busy baking her heart out in the kitchen. This morning I woke up and there it was—a decadent, crumb-topped coffee cake! Voila! Vegan with a vengeance indeed.


This coffee cake was light and airy, not dense, and I loved her addition of fresh blueberries in the middle! I’m sure you could experiment with some other fun add-ins like chocolate chips, nuts, jam, citrus zest, or another kind of berry or fruit.

Lauren borrowed her recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch. The gingerbread waffles in this cookbook look divine as well (they use fresh ginger in the recipe, mmm!!). Moskowitz is also known for her fabulous cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which I adapted my vegan maple walnut muffins from!

What I like about this recipe is that all of the ingredients are on-hand. No funky egg replacer concoctions or strangely named “natural” sugar substitutes. Plus, I’m not gonna lie, Lauren’s cake looks prettier than the picture in the cookbook. Way to go!

Lauren’s Vegan Coffee Crumb Cake
Adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Brunch

Serves 8

For the topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup canola oil, plus up to 2 tablespoons more if needed

For the cake:
¾ cup soy milk (or any nondairy milk)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Add-in:
1 cup fresh blueberries


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round springform pan or an 8-inch square pan. Measure out the mlike for the cake and mix in the teaspoon of vinegar; set aside to curdle.

2. Make the topping: In a small mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Drizzle in the canola oil by the tablespoonful (you can just eyeball this, no reason to whip out a tablespoon). Use your fingers to swish around the mixture until crumbs form. Alternate swishing and adding canola oil until all of the oil is used and large crumbs have formed. Some of the topping is still going to be sandy and that is fine, just so long as you have mostly nice big crumbs.

3. Make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, mix together the milk mixture, sugar, canola oil, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until smooth.

Pour the half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Spread the blueberries over the batter, and top with the other half of the batter. Evenly sprinkle on the topping and pat it down just a bit. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted though the center comes out clean. Let cool for at least an hour before slicing and serving, if you can wait that long!