Cardamom
Orange pecan coffee cake
- Prep time 25 minutes
- Cook time 35 minutes
- Makes 1 nine inch round coffee cake
Author Notes
You might think this cake won't work but it does. I invented it in a moment when I had no eggs or butter, so it came out vegan, but with its bit of crunch from the pecans, nuttiness of the wheat germ, and the citrus edge it is terribly incredibly delicious. Among other reasons for making the streusel first, it is harder to zest a juiced orange. It lacks binder so don't try to cut it when it is warm as it will crumble; leave it to cool about two hours to enhance integrity of slices. If you don't need it vegan, use butter in the topping, diminish the OJ by 1/4 and add an egg. But I like it very well in its soft slightly crumbly eggless mode. —Starmade
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- streusel topping
-
1/2 cup
pecans, chipped or ground plus about 20 halves to go around the edge
-
1-2 tablespoons
coconut oil (or butter if vegan not a priority)
-
1 tablespoon
wheat germ
-
zest from 1/2 orange
-
sprinkle of cardamom (optional)
-
3 tablespoons
Brown sugar
- cake
-
3/4 cup
whole wheat flour
-
3/4 cup
white flour
-
2 tablespoons
wheat germ
-
1/2 teaspoon
salt
-
1/2 teaspoon
baking soda
-
2 teaspoons
baking powder
-
1/4 teaspoon
ground cardamom (optional)
-
zest from other half of orange
-
2/3 c
juice from one or two fresh oranges
-
1/3 cup
olive oil
-
1 teaspoon
vanilla
-
2 tablespoons
maple syrup
-
1/4 cup
brown sugar
-
1 tablespoon
lemon juice
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 and butter a nine inch round pan.
- Then make streusel: start with one tbsp fat and add more if it seems like you need it. Take 1/2 c pecans, wheat germ, sugar, cardamom, and 1 tbsp coconut oil or butter and put everything in a blender and pulse till it becomes a crumbly mix (or alternatively use nut grinder or chop nuts with knife and mix other ingredients with fingers). If looks like it needs more fat add a bit more, and at the end grate zest from half the orange into it with a microplane. Set aside.
- Mix dry cake ingredients (through cardamom). Grate zest from the other half the orange into the dry ingredients and stir that in as well.
- Now juice the oranges and lemon and add into a glass measuring cup, adding a little water if it falls below the measure. Mix in sugar, syrup, olive oil and vanilla. Taste; sweet should balance acid. If too acid add another splash syrup.
- Pour liquid into dry ingredients and mix till combined; scrape into a round cake pan.
- Sprinkle streusel on top; set whole pecans in a circle around the edge. Bake in preheated over for 25-35 minutes. Ideally cool on rack for two hours at a minimum before slicing.
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