Gluten Free Coffee Cake Pound Cake

My family loves gluten free coffee cake. I mean, it’s cake … that you eat for breakfast … and the grown ups seem to let the kids get away with it. How can you beat that? 

It’s true that’s it’s hard to beat a really good gluten free coffee cake, but trust me when I tell you that this gluten free Coffee Cake POUND CAKE just might be the winner every time.

My gluten free Lemon Poundcake recipe has always been a recipe everyone agrees is THE best, so I thought we needed another contender in the best gluten free poundcake recipe contest. It’s definitely giving the gluten free Lemon Poundcake a run for its money.

I can’t wait to hear which one YOU prefer! One is tart and sweet, lemony and light and the lemon glaze is absolute perfection on top; the other is cinnamon-y and sweet, with a buttery brown sugar swirl through the middle and is equally good iced with glaze or topped with a dusting of powdered sugar. Such difficult choices, right?? 

I’ve made this gluten free Coffee Cake Pound Cake a few times now and tried some variations. I must say that it smells like heaven while baking! 

One way I devised this recipe was to embrace the coffee in coffee cake and actually use coffee IN the cake! Even if you’re not a coffee lover, the flavor is rich without tasting like actual coffee. It’s a nice change of pace!

In addition to the added flavor, there is an impressive body of research showing brain health benefits from drinking coffee; most research has shown that there are some protective components of coffee that seem to ward off cognitive decline. From helping to prevent mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease to just boosting brain function in general, there are lots of reasons to find more ways to enjoy coffee in your day. I say, bring it on IN CAKE!

The other way I’ve made this recipe is to amp up the nutrition by using a gluten free protein drink, OWYN (Only What You Need)*. I use their Cold Brew flavor in place of the coffee and milk in the other recipe option I’ve written and I gotta say that I really like it!

Again, although there is actual coffee in the protein drink, you can’t taste the coffee in this recipe, per se, but the flavor is deeper without being overly sweet, if you know what I mean. 

If you haven’t heard about OWYN yet, I highly recommend it and use it in lots of recipes (and you can usually find one in my purse)! Everything from Gluten Free Protein Brownies to Butternut Squash Turmeric Golden Mylk Soup. Use the search bar at the top of the page and search OWYN — I’ve got a bunch of recipes for you, all packed with extra protein from these yummy plant-based, gluten free drinks. 

Each OWYN drink contains 20 grams of plant based protein, amino acids, fiber, Omega-3s and even greens like spinach, kale and broccoli. All OWYN products are also all certified gluten free, vegan, non-GMO and even low-FODMAP. The OWYN Cold Brew I’ve used in this recipe also has 113mg caffeine from Peruvian coffee.

Of course, regular cold brew coffee or regular coffee is a perfectly good option instead of coffee protein drink here. I think the cold brew is a great choice because it’s so mild; cold brew coffee beans are steeped for anywhere from 2 hours to 24 hours before drinking, so the flavor is smooth, full bodied and robust, without the acidity that troubles some of our sensitive stomachs. Hence the reason this process makes cold brew even better for baking!

The brown sugar-butter-cinnamon swirl through the middle of this coffee cake is also just as yummy with sugar replacer like Swerve, for those looking to reduce sugars. The swirl adds the hallmark coffee cake flavor, so don’t skip it altogether if you really want this pound cake to remind you of your favorite coffee cake.

If you’re looking for a straight up coffee cake recipe without the coffee IN the coffee cake, I have a couple that I really love: my family’s tried and true Gluten Free Coffee Cake and my friend Karen at Healthy Gluten Free Family’s Gluten Free Rhubarb Coffee Cake made with my gfJules Flour.

And you can’t talk about great gluten free coffee cake recipes without trying my Gluten Free Coffee Cake Muffins! It’s portable coffee cake, people! That’s pretty handy!

And it bears noting that although I’ve called this cake a “Pound Cake”, it’s not made with a pound each of  butter, flour, sugar and eggs, like its namesake, and it’s not super dense. If you’re really wanting a dense, heavy but totally delicious gluten free pound cake recipe, try my Gluten Free Rum Cake. It’s awesome. Truly.

Back to the recipe at hand, there are a few layers to make it really coffee cake-like. It’s not complicated, but you’ll want to divide the batter roughly in half to get that swirl.

 

1. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan:

2. Spoon the swirl on top and I like to cut it into the batter a little with a knife so it’s not a line of swirl, but you don’t have to:

3. Then spoon the remaining batter on top and smooth it so that it’s level. 

Bake it and allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn it out onto a plate. Once it’s cooled, either drizzle the glaze on top (Yum Yum!) or give a few shakes of powdered sugar over the cake before serving — your call!

I hope your family loves this gluten free Coffee Cake Pound Cake as much as we do! It’s definitely part of our favorite breakfast recipe rotation!

Gluten Free Coffee Cake Pound Cake Recipe

Enjoy this recipe for breakfast OR for dessert!

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**I’ve partnered with OWYN (Only What You Need) to use their products in order to increase the nutrition in a few gluten-free recipes. Some links to products may be affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own.  See my disclosure policy for more information. Working with select brands I love allows me to keep bringing you free recipes, and I hope that in the process, you’ll learn about some of the safe gluten free products I choose for my family. Thanks so much for your support!