This grain-free, refined sugar-free paleo coffee cake is a healthier alternative to classic coffee cake. PLUS it is great for breakfast or brunch.
Fluffy, nutty, sweet, cinnamon-y coffee cake. Le sigh…nothing compares (<- sang like Sinead O’Connor).
One of my recent freelance projects was a tutorial on how to make classic coffee cake. So buttery, sugary, and gluten-y. Delicious, right?
It’s my favorite breakfast treat next to the cheese danish. Given my undying love for the treat, I decided to whip up this Paleo Coffee Cake for the same great taste, a little less guilt.
As soon as the classic version left the house, I put my thing down, flipped it and reversed it and made a healthier grain-free, refined sugar-free coffee cake. And.oh.my.lanta. where has this been all my life?!
What Does This Coffee Cake Taste Like?:
Is it just like regular coffee cake? Nay. But it’s pretty close! It turns out surprisingly fluffy for being gluten-free, with the nicest nutty cinnamon crunch. I’ve been heating up big hunks for breakfast and drizzling full-fat coconut milk on top to get my sog on.
Ingredients for Grain-Free Coffee Cake:
The nutty topping involves nothing more than walnuts, maple syrup, cinnamon, butter and smidge of coconut flour. The base of the cake is made with coconut flour and arrowroot flour (<- very similar to tapioca flour, which I told you about in my Paleo Raspberry Crumble post).
Arrowroot flour may sound like one of those foreign ingredients only used in the the upside down, but it’s actually very commonly used in grain-free baking. In fact, it is an incredible resource for making baked goods airy and fluffy.
Arrowroot flour comes from the arrowroot plant, and can often be used interchangeably with tapioca flour. If you don’t have arrowroot or tapioca flour on-hand, you can replace it with almond flour, but the cake won’t turn out quite as fluffy.
The recipe listed in this post doesn’t turn out super sweet (just the way I like my baked goods), but you can double up on the maple syrup or simply serve the coffee cake with maple syrup or honey.
More Healthy Coffee Cake Recipes:
- Paleo Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Chai-Spiced Paleo Coffee Cake
- Paleo Peach Coffee Cake
- Paleo Strawberry Coffee Cake
Coffee cake, reloaded.
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @TheRoastedRoot on Instagram!
Paleo Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- ¾ cup coconut flour sifted
- ¾ cup arrowroot flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 eggs
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup**
- ½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
- ¼ cup unsalted grass-fed butter melted
For the Walnut Topping:
- 1 cup raw walnuts chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- ¼ cup unsalted grass-fed butter melted
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Instructions
Prepare the walnut topping:
- Combine all of the ingredients for the walnut topping in a small bowl. Stir well to combine and set aside.
Prepare the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly butter or oil a 8" x 8" baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the coconut flour, arrowroot flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, coconut milk, and butter. Pour this wet mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Note: The batter will be thick.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Spread half of the walnut topping over the batter. Repeat for the remaining cake batter and walnut topping.
- Bake on the center rack for 28 to 35 minutes or until cake tests clean when poked in the center (Note: mine took 32 minutes).
- Allow cake to sit 20 minutes before cutting large chunks and serving.
Notes
**Use up to 2/3 cup pure maple syrup for a sweeter cake
Absolutely loved this – followed the recipe exactly- great texture, cinnamon taste is perfect! You cannot tell this is paleo. Entire family loved it and they are picky! And it’s the perfect level of sweetness in my opinion and perfect with coffee or hot chocolate:)
Wahoo! That’s so great to hear, Vittoria! I’m obsessed with the coffee cake, myself. I just love how moist and cinnamony it is. Thanks for the sweet note! xo
Just wondering if I can substitute flax eggs for the 4 regular eggs? Can’t do eggs right now.
Hi Andrea! In my experience, flax eggs make baked recipes like this very dense. If you’re okay with that, feel free to proceed with flax eggs! As far as other egg alternatives go, I don’t have a huge experience with them, but I have found Bob’s Red Mill’s egg replacer to be pretty useful. Hope that helps!! xoxo
Okay well I made it today and decided not to make any high altitude adjustments and it’s absolutely perfect!! I’m in love, thank you thank you!! I got some blueberries but chickened out about baking them in but they’re delicious just mixed with the bites I take!
Hi Julia, the coffee cake is in the oven now and it smells wonderful. However I have a couple questions. 1)Why do the directions call for sifting the coconut flour which wasn’t lumpy, but not the tapioca flour which is lumpy?
2)My streusel topping was runny from the liquid of the melted butter and the syrup, so it just sunk into the batter. There is no streusel topping on top. I did use the correct amounts. How do you get yours to stay on top of the batter? Thanks so much. Great site and recipes!
Hi Stephanie,
You can absolutely sift the tapioca flour too…I just have never experienced lumpy tapioca flour. 😉 I’m not sure what happened with the streusel topping since you didn’t change anything in the recipe. It could be that the batter itself wasn’t thick enough to support the weight of the topping. I’m wondering if elevation or the brand of flours had something to do with it. What brand did you use? Hope the coffee cake turned out alright in spite of the issues!
Hi Julia! I really want to make this cake for my husband as a surprise, it looks AMAZING and right up my alley. I’m wondering about any high altitude modifications. We live in Colorado and sometimes I have a hard time getting things to turn out on the first attempt and I’m reeeeally wanting this to be as wonderful as everyone says!
Just wanted to say that this is a foolproof recipe, even with a whole gaggle of substitutions.
I didn’t have arrowroot flour or tapioca flour, so I used 1 whole cup of coconut flour instead of 3/4, and I used a bit of oat fiber, a bit of psyllium husk and a bit of golden flaxmeal to make up the difference in arrowroot flour. I didn’t have sugar free maple syrup, so I just used 2/3 cup erythritol and liquid sweetener for sweetness, and bumped up the cream to 2/3 cup. Used heavy cream to replace the coconut milk. Added some vanilla extract, and /attempted/ to whip the egg whites, which failed, ended up with egg white foam.
Folded everything together and hoped for the best. While my “batter” seemed a lot thicker than what I’d like, the end result is absolutely delicious. Moist, flavorful, beautiful texture and golden color. Definitely not as light as your version, but made a delicious pound coffee cake nonetheless.
Ooh la la!! All of that sounds amazing! I’m so happy to hear it turned out well, and thanks so much for letting me know the changes – I’ll have to try your version 😀 xo
Where is the coffee in the recipe.
Hi Jean,
Coffee cake doesn’t contain coffee. It is called coffee cake because it is traditionally consumed alongside coffee 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe! xo
This was actually very delicious! Didn’t taste like coconut either. I liked that it felt like a ‘real’ cake
I want to make a bigger portion for a party like a 9 x 13 pan. I’m horrible with math, and hoping for you guidance. And also do you thing flax protein milk by good karma would be good instead of coconut milk?
Can you use almond milk in place of the coconut milk?
Hi Beka,
I would stick with coconut milk because it provides fat, which is essential for the baking process. If you use almond milk, I worry the coffee cake won’t hold together as well and will potentially lack flavor and moisture. Hope this helps!! xo
Thank you the recipe! I made it yesterday, and it was so good! I was particularly impressed by the texture (not eggy and weird like most coconut flour cakes and breads). Definitely a keeper!
Can you sub the butter for coconut oil?
Hi Suz,
Yes, absolutely! Hope you enjoy! xo
Do you shake up the canned coconut milk or just use the creamy part, not liquid? Thanks!
Hi Kimberly,
You’ll want the coconut milk to be combined (not separated), so you can shake or stir it if the cream is separated from the water 😀
I am so confused… where is coffee in the recipe??
Hi Rukzana,
Coffee cake is only called coffee cake because it meant to be consumed with coffee 🙂 There is no actual coffee in coffee cake. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Think I could sub coconut oil for the butter? Thanks!
Hi Katie! I think coconut oil would work great! Let me know how you like it 😀
Hi! This is the healthy coffee cake recipe I have been searching for..I love baking with maple syrup in place of sugar too. Thank you for the recipe, can’t wait to try it.
I’m so happy to hear it, Trish! Hope you enjoy! xo