This Paleo Apple Gluten Free Coffee Cake is made with almond flour, apples and sweetened with coconut sugar. Its a healthy breakfast treat that’s perfect with coffee!
PIN Paleo Apple Gluten Free Coffee Cake
I’m going to describe the typical morning in Taylor land to you today.
1. Wake up
2. Devotionals
3. Brush teeth
4. Consume double my weight in coffee. FROM my lucky snowman mug.
5. Maybe put on makeup if Mr. FFF is lucky
6. Cook my face off.
And then, Mr. FFF comes home and is all full of nurse-y stories that use big, medical words and are about how he saved lives or something crazy like that.
And I’m all “I made gluten free coffee cake.”
It’s a tough gig, but some bodies gotta do it.
How-ev-er, this particular cake actually stopped Mr. FFF mid-story. I mean it was partially because his mouth was full, and I told him that was rude, but it was mostly because this gluten free coffee cake recipe caused his taste buds to have a party up in thur.
Side note: you know what the secret reason that I bake early in the morning is? So that I can stuff Mr.FFFs face as soon as he finishes a story so I have a few quiet moments to pull dictionary.com up, and understand said story. There is a method to my madness and it WORKS.
At least that is what I tell myself.
This paleo apple gluten free coffee cake was another one of those lets-bake-with-all-the-things-that-I-never-baked-with-before-and-put-them-together-and-see-what-happens experiments. But, really, would you expect anything different from me? Also, I really don’t know what I always tell you guys that I don’t know what I am doing half the time….but I probably wont stop.
In fact, this particular time, I actually texted the hubster saying “I don’t know what is in our oven.” His response? “Do you ever?” He is so supportive.
Like a good Paleo Vegan Apple Crisp with Coconut Flour, this coffee cake is loaded with COZY, spicy-sweet cinnamon goodness and then you get HIT with apples! Cinnamon apple is, IMO, the best fall flavor.
Anyway.
Have you guys ever experimented with almond flour? Let me tell you that it is A LOT different than your typical wheat flour, or even the oat flour that we used to make gluten free vegan coffee cake.
And, if you don’t believe me, I’ll show you my freezer that is filled with 3 failed attempts of this gluten free coffee cake, as well as a few batches of sad, crumbly gluten free cupcakes.
I can also show you a sad husband who isn’t looking forward to eating 3 failed attempts at a paleo breakfast cake, but he never let’s me throw anything away. But, that is besides the point.
There are 3 things that you need to remember when baking with almond meal, and they are VERY VERY IMPORTANT.
How to bake with almond flour 101:
1. It isn’t very absorbent, so you need a lot less liquid. And, yes, this means that when baking this almond flour apple cake, your batter is going to look thick, gloppy and you are going to think you did something wrong. If you think this, you are doing it right.
2. It’s quite heavy compared to wheat flour, so you need to up the leavening agents. But if you want to use wheat flour you could also just make my vegan apple cake instead!
3. Since it is made of nuts, and higher in (good for you!) fat, you don’t need to add a bunch of fat to make it moist. It is seriously mega moist x 13 on it’s own.
Since it is also made of almonds, and fat adds flavor, it also means that the flour adds a HUGE punch of yummy goodness to the cake, which I am pretty much totally in love with right now.
If you’re reading this and are kinda getting concerned about baking with almond flour, make sure you try this Fool Proof Gluten Free Creamy Apple Cake for an almond flour alternative. Or, if you want more FALL FELLS, you could make a Paleo Gluten-Free Pumpkin Coffee Cake!
I also learned that if you mix apples and honey and then put them between layers of cake, you will have one happy tummy. And a happy waistline. AND a happy hubby. Seriously you guys. I put this cake away for a few minutes and he came home and was like WHERE IS MY CAKE.
The only way this paleo apple gluten free coffee cake could get any happier is if you ate it in Disneyland

Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 3 Cups Almond Flour (300g) *
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 tsps Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 2 tsps Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ginger powder
- 3 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Unsweetened almond milk
- 3/4 Cup Coconut sugar
- 1/3 Cup Monkfruit **
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- For the filling:
- 2 Cups Chopped apples (about 1 1/2 large apples) reserve half an apple for topping) 230g
- 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp Honey
- Pinch of Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line the bottom of an 8 inch Springform pan with parchment. ***
- In a medium sauce pan, on medium/high heat, combine the 2 cups of chopped apples, 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp honey and pinch of cinnamon to make the filling.
- Cook until soft, about 3-4 minutes.
- Once the apples are soft, lightly mash them with a fork. You want them mostly mashed, but with some bigger chunks for texture. and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond meal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger. Mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla, almond milk, coconut sugar, monkfruit, and honey using an electric hand mixer.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Take the remaining 1/2 an apple and cut it into quarters, cutting each quarter into thin slices.
- Lay the apple slices on their side on the bottom of the prepared Springform pan in a spiral shape, so just the inside ends are lightly touching.
- pour about 1/2 the batter into the pan and spread carefully, making sure not to move the apple slices around too much.
- Spoon the apple filling over top and spread evenly.
- Carefully spoon the remaining filling over top of the apple mixture and spread out evenly. This does require you to be patient and gentle to make sure you don't end up mixing all the apple filling in with the cake dough.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
- Let the cake completely cool in the pan.
- To serve, run a knife along the edge of the pan before opening the springs, to make sure your cake doesn't rip in half!
- Devour!
Tips & Notes:
The cake freezes beautifully!
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
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Nicole Taggart says
I love the apple arranged on top, so beautiful
Taylor Kiser says
Thank you!
Keenan says
I cannot believe how unbelievably amazing this turned out. I left out the monk fruit and it was still sweet enough, even for my boys who have been eating Easter eggs.
Thank you thank you thank you
I stumbled across your website and so pleased I did ?
Taylor Kiser says
YAY!! I am so glad you loved it!! 🙂
Laurie says
The recipe calls for monk fruit, but in the notes it mentions Stevia. How much Stevia would you use?
Taylor Kiser says
Ahh the stevia is a typo sorry – it should be monkfruit! The ratio SHOULD be the same but all brands are different, so you may need to play around!