Strawberry and Apple Crumble Cake

Anyone else out there have a new live in boyfriend?  Well, I do and he is ALWAYS hungry!!  He loves my vegan cooking and very rarely eats meat anymore but he is always hungry even right after he eats.  The other day he bought apples at the store and asked if I would make an apple pie.  Being short on whole wheat flour for crust, I decided to give my coconut flour a spin and I made this beautiful cake instead.  This Strawberry Apple Crumble Cake was a gift from the vegan food gods!  Not only is it simply divine but the boyfriend was finally full!!  Sure he ate half the cake but he loved it and after dinner he snacked on more cake when he got hungry again.  I guess this is what it is like having kids in the house! Stay tuned for lots more vegan baking since I know have someone who will eat all the leftover goodies from the kitchen.

This cake was very delicious for me and I enjoyed making it.  After all, who doesn't love to bake and then eat a beautiful treat straight from the oven as your boyfriend praises your kitchen prowess?  Cake is always a good idea!  This cake is a lesser evil as it uses whole wheat flour, coconut flour, oat flour, and walnut flour.  Naturally, to minimize ingredients you could just use whole wheat or whole wheat and coconut but I wanted to add a different flavor for the crumble on top so I opted for ground up walnuts and oat flour.  I took lots of notes so that I would be sure this recipe could be shared with all the other vegan bakers out there!

Instead of egg, I used flax eggs which are a wonderful and healthy alternative for baking.  To make a flax egg, just add 1 Tablespoon ground up flax seed to 1/4 cup water and mix.  Set it aside for 5 to ten minutes to allow it to thicken and then you will have this:

Strawberry Apple Crumble Cake
Ingredients:
7/8 cup vegan butter, room temp
3/4 cup vegan sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean
2 flax eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup almond milk
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup strawberries, washed, hulled, halved

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup flour (I used 1/4 cup oat flour, and 1/4 cup ground walnut but you can use wheat or coconut)
1/2 cup chilled butter (I used coconut oil)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Directions:
1. Into a medium bowl, add your dry ingredients.  If using vanilla bean, add it here.
2.  Into a small bowl, add wet ingredients and mix.
3.  Slowly add wet ingredients to dry and mix well.  The dough will seem dry but this is normal.  Prepare a pie pan or springform pan by greasing with melted butter or coconut oil, and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom.  This will allow for easy removal once your cake is done.  Using a spoon, drop the the batter into prepared pan. 
4.  Prepare crumble topping by mixing flour and sugar in a small bowl.  Then mix in your chilled butter or coconut oil until combined.
5.  Arrange apple and strawberry slices on top of your cake batter.  Then on top of this, drop your crumble mixture evenly over the surface of the fruit.
6.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Enjoy!

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