A good coffee cake recipe is one of life’s necessities, in my humble opinion. My family loves my gluten free coffee cake, but we actually know it as “Breakfast Cake.”
Don’t ask me why I ever felt I had to encourage the eating of cake for breakfast, but at some point the name stuck with my kids.
I think I may have been the reason there was ever a hashtag for #cakeforbreakfast, but I’m not certain.
This was the first cake-for-breakfast recipe that my picky son absolutely LOVED, and it’s still his favorite (amazing, since teenagers hardly ever say they like anything!), so he gets it every year for his birthday breakfast and of course, on other special occasions throughout the year.
It’s really a treat for all of us, so I don’t mind making it (but don’t tell him that, of course!).
It’s a wonderful dish to serve for out-of-town guests, too – it’s not too sweet, and pairs equally well with traditional coffee or with fresh fruit and yogurt. I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours does!
You can make this recipe a couple different ways, depending on how cinnamon-y your family prefers their coffee cake. One method is simply to spread the batter into the pan and put the crumble topping on top and bake. Using this method, I recommend an 8×11 or 9×13 pan.
Another method is to add the extra cinnamon-sugar filling and spread that in the middle.
For that method, I’ve used an 8×8 pan, which makes a very tall coffee cake. It’s quite the presentation! It’s gorgeous, delicious and you’ll get no complaints, but it does take longer to bake, so keep that in mind.
Either way, you can’t go wrong with this crowd-pleasing gluten free coffee cake!
Gluten Free Coffee Cake
Traditional coffee cake is a treat that's hard to beat. This gluten free coffee cake recipe has all the texture and flavor of your favorite coffee cake in a fast recipe that's gluten-free and even dairy-free and vegan if you like! Even better than before!!!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (337.5 grams) gfJules® Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 12 Tbs. (3/4 cup) butter or vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
- 1 cup granulated cane sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 2 eggs (or egg substitute)
- 1 cup vanilla yogurt, dairy or non-dairy (like So Delicious® Yogurt)
- 1/2 cup milk, dairy or non-dairy
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
filling (optional):
- 3/4 cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 cup (34 grams) gfJules® Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
toppings:
- 5 Tbs. softened butter or vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
- 2/3 cup (90 grams) gfJules® Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
- 1 large apple, peeled and sliced (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F (static) or 325° F (convection).
Oil and lightly flour (with gfJules Flour) or line with parchment one 8x8 pan or one 8x11 pan and set aside.
In a medium-size bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating afterwards. Add yogurt, milk and vanilla, mixing to incorporate, then slowly stir in the dry ingredients, mixing until smooth, about 1-2 minutes only.
If making the filling, prepare that in a separate bowl.
Pour half the batter into the prepared baking dish then sprinkle filling on top and spread remaining batter on top of filling, spreading all the way to the sides of the pan. If not using filling, simply spread the batter into the pan evenly.
In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients with a fork until integrated. Crumble over the top of the batter and cut through slightly, with a knife pointed down, making criss-cross patterns into the top of the cake if you like the topping to marbleize. If using, lay apple slices across the top.
Bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes, then test with a toothpick for doneness -- it should only have dry crumbs when removed. When using the smaller 8x8 pan, the coffee cake will take longer to bake than in the larger pan, so add more time as needed until the toothpick comes out clean or only with dry crumbs.
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 359Total Fat 19gSaturated Fat 11gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 79mgSodium 404mgCarbohydrates 48gFiber 1gSugar 46gProtein 3g
Please keep in mind that nutrition information provided is per serving, which may vary. While we have taken care to provide you with the most accurate nutritional values possible, please note that this information may differ significantly depending on the exact ingredients and brands that you choose to use to make this recipe. Additionally, where options are given for ingredients, the resulting calculation may include all ingredient options instead of only one per line, skewing the totals significantly.
Pin this recipe for later!
Hi! I need to make a coffee cake and all I have is your bread flour. Will it work okay in this recipe or do I need to make substitutions? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, you should be able to measure out my bread mix as flour and use it for recipes like this coffee cake. When I do that, I measure it to 140gr/cup (my gfJules Flour is 135gr/cup). I haven’t tried it in this recipe, specifically, but it works well in other quick breads, muffins and biscuits, so it should work for you. Let me know how it goes!!
~jules
Hello,
I would love to try your recipes and flours but I don’t do well with white sugar. Have you tried your recipes using all coconut sugar or maple????
Hi Candida, yes I have tried many of my recipes using coconut palm sugar and even some with maple sugar — personally, I love those sugars! They do change some recipes a bit, but not necessarily for the worse. Check out my gluten free Spice Cake recipe, for example! Most of the time, if a recipe calls for brown sugar, coconut sugar is a 1:1 substitute. If a recipe calls for white sugar, using coconut palm will work, but it will darken the recipe and may be heavier, as well. You can usually reduce the white sugar called for by about 1-2 Tbs. per cup and be sure to cream the coconut sugar with the fat longer to ensure it’s worked into the fats well. ENJOY!
~jules
Jules, I wanted to make the coffee cake pound cake but can’t have caffeine or coffee so I’m planning to make this recipe in a bundt pan. I read one review about using a bundt pan (doubling/tripling the recipe) but do I need to double OR triple this? Hoping to just double this.
I want to layer this (batter, topping, batter) like in the coffee cake pound cake recipe.
Thoughts?
Hi Carol, did you end up making it? This particular cake is pretty heavy, so I’m not sure I’d recommend doubling it and layering it. The bundt pan will help it bake more evenly, though.
~jules
I used a 10×6 for x2 and It turned out so good also I sliced 4 apples and put them at the bottom before I filled it up then a layer on top yum!!
Oh wow! Sounds delish!!!
~jules
I love to bake I have celiac i love this recipe
whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy is this so good!!!
LOL I’m SO glad you loved it, Juliana!
~jules
Jules, love your recipes but live in Australia, so can’t buy your products. Can I have your recipes with the different flour mix please.
Hi Gail, no problem. Check out this article on making a good gluten free flour blend with ingredients you should be able to find in Australia, so you can still use my recipes! Also, check out GlutenFreeSG.com, as they sell my gfJules Flour and mixes in Singapore and ship to Australia for much less than shipping from the US.
Happy baking!
~jules
I am a new comer to your gluten free flour. I LOVE IT!! Thanks for sharing your recipes. So glad someone finally got it right !!! I am ready to order larger quantities.
Hi Sandra, I’m so glad you’re enjoying my gfJules Flour! I hope you are excited to get back into the kitchen and see what other kinds of delicious things you can whip up!
~jules
I need to substitute the apple for another fruit that is allowed on the Low FODMAP diet. Could I use kiwi, papaya or blueberries? What do you suggest?
Blueberries would be delicious here!
~jules
I would love to wake up to the smell of this coffee cake followed by a relaxing morning of enjoying a slice.
It’s a beautiful way to start the day!
~jules
would you weigh the flour or just measure it?
Hi Rita, I always weigh my gfJules Flour for best results. One cup of my flour weighs 135grams.
~jules
What size loaf pan did you use?
Hi Alysia, I just used a standard 8×4, but it would work in a larger one, as well.
~jules
I made this today and it looked absolutely delicious when I took it out of the oven…..then 10 minutes later I came back and it had fallen…..I was so upset!!! What went wrong???? I went over the recipe 3x and had everything done right…..so dissappointed! Do you have any idea as to what happened??
Hi Bobbie – can you tell me what it was like when you cut into it? I’m sorry it fell – that’s always disappointing, but usually indicates that it wasn’t fully cooked or the ingredients weren’t measured exactly right. Were you using my gfJules Flour? Did you weigh or measure with a measuring cup? Did you make any other ingredient substitutions? Here are some other troubleshooting ideas – see if any of these seems relevant for you. You can also email us at [email protected] and we can walk through the recipe with you and perhaps find out what went wrong.
~jules
I made this today and mine fell or shrunk a little too but think that sometimes happens…right?
But…I’m afraid mine wasn’t baked long enough even though the knife came out clean and I added bake time 5-10 minutes. I measured my gfjules flour carefully the bottom of the cake was gummy. Does that sound like it needed more bake time? Hope I didn’t make everyone sick. They all said it tasted fine. I’m s bit nervous.
Hi Carol, it does sound like it maybe could have used some more time. All ovens are different, so just make a note that you need to bake yours longer next time and maybe put the pan closer to the bottom of the oven. Also be sure not to over-mix the batter. I doubt there’s much risk of making anyone sick – the batter was in the hot oven for a while. I hope that helps!! I also have another couple coffee cake and coffee cake muffins recipes if you want to try one of those next time; you may like one of those better!
~jules
Made this today, and it was wonderful! I love your GF flour. I want to make this coffee cake for when it’s my turn to serve the church breakfast, maybe triple the recipe for a 9×12 pan? How long do you suggest cooking it for?
Hi Patsy, I’m so pleased you love my gfJules Flour. I love hearing from folks who rely on it and are enjoying amazing foods as a result. As for tripling the recipe, you can do that but I would suggest using 2 or 3 pans instead of a 9×12. With this particular recipe, baked in a larger pan, the middle sometimes doesn’t bake as well. You could also try a bundt pan – that would be beautiful and yummy! Enjoy!
~jules
Can sour cream be substituted for the yogurt? Thanks, Jules! BTW, made your lemon pound cake. It’s the best ting I’ve eaten since I had to go gluten-free 2+ years ago! Your flour is incredible!
Hi MaryEllen – thanks so much for the feedback! I’m so happy you have yummy tasting recipes back in your life and that you love my flour! If you get a chance to leave a review on my flour product page sometime, I’d be very appreciative! As for the sour cream/yogurt sub, you can do that; you may want to use mostly sour cream and then sub a couple tablespoons of milk in place of some of the total amount of sour cream because it’s thicker than yogurt is, generally. The taste will be great though! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
~jules
Thanks again, Jules! You’re incredible! I’ll be delighted to write a review ASAP, and I’ll let you know about the sour cream sub! (The Best Cookies recipe is next. Now that I have your flour, I can’t stop baking delicious things!)
Aw, that makes me so happy to hear that you’re excited about baking again! That’s the way it oughta be!!!!!
~jules
I am giving my dad a coffee themed birthday this year and coffee cake would be a perfect addition to the coffee ice cream, personalized coffee spoon and other coffee items we are gathering for him! I would love to make it into cupcakes… Do you have any suggestions about how to adjust the cook time?
What a sweet idea, Meg! I think it would be lovely as cupcakes – fill 2/3 full then top with topping and cut into each cupcake with a knife in a similar way as I describe for the coffee cake. Bake for 20 minutes and test with a toothpick; you don’t want to overbake these or they’ll dry out, but I’d expect to bake them for 25-28 minutes total. Let me know how it goes!! (And happy birthday to your dad!)
~jules