Peach Crumble Coffee Cake: A Vegan Dessert for Summer

Every other Thursday, Gena Hamshaw of the blog Choosing Raw shares satisfying, flavorful recipes that also happen to be vegan.

Today: This dessert proves that vegans can have their cake -- made with summer's best fruit -- and eat it, too.

My time with this peachy crumble coffee cake was woefully short. I made it late on a Thursday night, inspired by my weekly produce delivery, which had brought me my first taste of ripe summer peaches. I snuck in a (divine) slice before bedtime -- I had to taste test it, after all -- but by the time late morning rolled around on Friday, a certain someone (okay, my boyfriend) had polished most of it off. Turns out he was as smitten with the coffee cake as I was. And rightly so.

More: If you want your peaches cold, try Gena's (vegan) peach pie ice cream.

In both the cake and the crumble, this recipe calls for melted coconut oil, which is my baking oil of choice; I find that it consistently creates a perfect crumb in a wide range of vegan baked goods. If you don’t happen to have any, don’t worry: Canola oil or vegetable oil will work, too, though coconut oil is a good investment for future baking adventures; its sweet and fragrant qualities complement quick breads perfectly. I've also skipped flax meal here, which is often used in vegan baking to replace eggs; I find that it can actually make vegan baked goods overly dense, or even gummy. This cake has none of that.

The result is everything that coffee cake should be: sweet, fragrant, and full of texture. There’s a perfect balance between the soft, fluffy cake and the nutty, sugary, crumbly topping. To sweeten the deal, small pieces of peach are studded throughout the whole thing, creating heavenly little pockets of sweetness and moisture. 

Vegan Peach Crumble Coffee Cake 

Serves 9 to 12

For the coffee cake:

1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup organic sugar
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup peeled, diced ripe peaches 

For the crumble topping:

3/4 cup all unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed organic brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
4 to 5 tablespoons coconut oil (melted or solid -- either will work)

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here. 

Photos by James Ransom

Gena's new book Choosing Raw: Making Raw Foods Part of the Way You Eat is a thorough, relatable guide to incorporating raw and vegan foods into any diet. It's full of no-fuss recipes for every meal, which range from fully raw to mostly cooked, with plenty of snacks and desserts to keep everyone happy.