Crumb-Top Coffee Cake

This is an amazing recipe for coffee cake. It has lots of crunchy nutty topping over a very light cake, filled with aromatic spices. I used whole evaporated cane juice in the topping, where you can really taste it, and mellow agave nectar to sweeten the cake and keep it moist. This would be great for a festive brunch, where you have time to sit and enjoy it with family or friends.

I was a little late getting the cake into the oven before my Writer's Group meeting, and when I took it out during the meeting the entire meeting stopped because everyone had to have a piece right away. It was a "bestseller"!

And my husband and I enjoyed it just as much the following evening topped with sliced fresh strawberries and vanilla whipped cream. Mmmmmmmm...

makes one 8x8 square pan or equivalent

Crumb Topping
2/3 cup walnuts
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
3 tablespoons unrefined cane sugar (such as Sucanat or Rapadura)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt
2 tablespoons cold butter

Batter
2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
2/3 cup agave nectar
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 cup butermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread a bit of the melted butter on the bottom and sides of the baking pan with a pastry brush or paper towel.
3. Toast the walnuts in the preheated oven for 7 to 10 minutes, until fragrant, then allow to cool. Chop with a knife or pulse in a food processor until they are coarsely chopped.
4. To make the topping, mix the flour, unrefined cane sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl until just blended, then add the toasted walnuts. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix it all with your hands, working the butter into the nuts, but keeping the mixture crumbly. Set aside.
5. To make the batter, combine the flour, agave, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed until it resembles coarse cornmeal. With the mixer running, pour in the melted butter and continue to mix until the batter is smooth. Remove 1/2 cup of this batter and add it to the topping mixture. Mix it thoroughly with your fingers, but still keep it crumbly.
6. Stir the baking powder and baking soda into the rest of the batter. Add the egg and beat well. Add the vanilla to the buttermilk, and pour in gradually while you continue beating.
7. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and use your hands to distribute the abundance of crumbly topping over the top.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour, or until the entire cake puffs up, including the center. Start checking at about 50 minutes--my oven took a good 90 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back when touched lightly in the center. Serve hot from the oven.