Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake

by Kayla Berman on Jan 25, 2022 (updated Jul 21, 2022) 13 comments

Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake is the only coffee cake you’ll ever need! Made with almond flour, oat flour, and more delicious ingredients … this treat is a soft buttery cake with a cinnamon sugar swirl and streusel crumble topping. It’s full of cinnamon flavor, has the perfect texture, and is the best pairing for your morning coffee or tea!

Ingredients needed for Gluten Free Coffee Cake…

Gluten Free Coffee Cake calls for simple gluten free baking ingredients!

Butter: Butter is used an all three parts of this recipe … the cake, the filling, and the crumble! It of course adds a delicious flavor. You will need 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp salted butter in total.
Applesauce: This recipe calls for unsweetened applesauce. 2/3 cup adds the perfect moisture and natural sweetness.
Eggs: 2 eggs also add moisture and binding to this Gluten Free Coffee Cake!
Sugars: This recipe calls for both white sugar and light brown sugar. You will need 1 cup + 2 tbsp of white sugar and 1/4 cup of light brown sugar.
Vanilla Extract: Add 2 tsp of vanilla extract to this coffee cake batter for that classic flavor!
Almond Flour: Almond flour is one of the gluten free flours used in this recipe. It makes for a light, soft, and fluffy textured cake. It is also used in the crumble. You’ll need 1 1/4 cup total!
Oat Flour: Oat flour is the other flour used. I love to make my own oat flour at home from old fashioned oats … and I explain how to so below! Add 1 1/4 cup to the cake, 1 tbsp to the filling, and 1/2 cup to the crumble topping.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon is of course the star of the show in this Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake. Add 1/2 tbsp to the cinnamon sugar filling and 2 tsp to the crumble. Or add however much you’d like!
Baking Powder: 2 tsp of baking powder helps bake this cake to melt-in-your-mouth perfection.
Salt: Lastly, add 1/4 tsp of salt to bring out all the delicious flavors in this recipe!

How to make oat flour at home…

Oat flour is one of my favorite gluten free flours to bake with and I always make my own at home! Oat flour is often hard to find at the grocery store and expensive too. Making oat flour at home saves you the hassle of searching the aisles and saves you money too!

Here’s how to do it!

Add oats to a blender. Preferably a high speed blender!
Blend until a fine flour forms.
And that’s it!

Tip! I love to make a big batch of oat flour whenever I make it. It is an easy process, but honestly I like to take out the blender and clean it as least often as possible. Batch making my oat flour helps with that!

How to make Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake…

This Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake has three delicious components. A perfectly sweet & moist cake, a cinnamon sugar filling, and a streusel crumb topping. Once you’ve made all the parts you just assemble!

The result is going to be the best coffee cake you’ve ever had … gluten free or not!

Set the oven to 350 degrees.
Cake: In a large mixing bowl combine the softened butter, applesauce, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Next add in the almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine until smooth.
Cinnamon Sugar Filling: Simply combine the melted butter, oat flour, white sugar, and cinnamon evenly.
Crumble Topping: Add the brown sugar, almond flour, oat flour and cinnamon to the room temperature butter. I recommend combining with your hands or a fork to form the best crumbles. Set aside.
Next grease or line an 8×8 baking dish. Pour half of the cake batter in the dish and spread evenly. Add half of the cinnamon sugar filling on top and swirl into the batter. Then add the remaining half of the cake batter and spread evenly again. Lastly, add the remaining cinnamon sugar filling to the top of the cake. Swirl in again.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and softly place the crumble topping on top. Gently press the crumble into the cake, especially in the middle where it will still be underbaked. Bake for another 18 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let cool completely, and then cut into squares.
Enjoy!

Gluten Free Coffee Cake Recipe Tips…

This coffee cake recipe is one of my favorite recipes I have ever made! Which means I of course worked extra hard to make it absolutely perfect. Follow the tips & tricks below to make sure yours is perfect too!

Greased & lined baking dish: My favorite method of lining a baking dish is to first grease the dish with a spray oil and then place parchment paper down on top. Greasing the dish first helps the paper stick to the dish, which otherwise can be slightly difficult. Then the paper allows for an easy and clean removal of the coffee cake from the dish.
I recommend cutting the parchment paper into two slices with widths equal to or a little less than the baking dish. Then you can place one piece down left to right and the other down top to bottom in the pan. This means you don’t have to deal with getting the paper into the tricky corners!

Melt the filling: If you are working with the cinnamon sugar filling and it starts to harden up a bit, do not worry. Simply pop in the microwave for a few seconds until melted and smooth again.

Cinnamon sugar swirl technique: This coffee cake calls for two layers of cinnamon sugar swirls. My method is to spoon the filling on top of the batter, dispersing it evenly. Then take a knife or tooth pick and swirl the filling into the batter a bit. That’s it!

Bake before adding crumble toping: This is crucial to the success of this Gluten Free Coffee Cake! By baking the coffee cake a bit before adding the crumb topping the structure of the cake is able to set. This prevents the crumble from sinking in.

Gently press in the crumb: When the coffee cake is removed from the oven the first time it won’t be completely baked through, especially in the middle. Therefore, it is very important to add the crumb gently and carefully!

Let sit before cutting: Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake is super soft … which results in a delicious melt-in-your-mouth texture. But also means that it is very important to allow the cake to cool and set completely before cutting into. This will prevent the cake from crumbling apart.

Why is the crumble topping sinking into my coffee cake?

The crumble topping sinking was a problem I faced when developing this Gluten Free Coffee Cake recipe! I fixed it by adding a bit more flour to the cake batter to thicken it up and strengthen the structure. I also baked the coffee cake for 25 minutes before adding the crumb topping. This again helps the structure … it allows the cake to set enough to hold the crumb topping!

Other reasons for the sinking could be your baking temperature is off or you used too much baking powder.

How to store Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake…

You can store Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days.

For longer storage, keep in the fridge where it will last 1-2 weeks!

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Connect with me!

If you make Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake or any of my other recipes I would absolutely love to know! Tag me @wellnessbykay on instagram, so I can see and share your recreations!!

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