Crumb Cake- Vegan Version

Originally I found this recipe in Grandma's Kitchen cookbook by Gooseberry Patch. I "vegan-ized" it about three years ago. I haven't made it in a long time. But on a morning when the real-feel temperature is in the minus double digits, my kids and I loved the warm, yummy goodness right out of the oven.

Cake:  2 Tablespoons oil

1 flax meal "egg"

1/2 cup milk of choice (almond, coconut, or rice)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup Sucanat

1 1/2 cup Organic White spelt flour*

2 1/2 teaspoons Aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Topping**:  1 1/4 cup Organic White spelt flour*

1/2 cup Sucanat

1 1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon

Scant 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled

1. The most "difficult" part of this conversion is the flax meal egg. If you've never made one, don't worry. Just add 1 Tablespoon flax meal to a cup and an additional 3 Tablespoons water with it and stir. Let it set for a moment while you gather the rest of your ingredients and it will be good to go!

2. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Put coconut oil from the topping in a medium bowl and  place the bowl in the oven to melt while you begin your cake mix.

3. Combine all of the cake ingredients in the order given above in a medium bowl. Sucanat has a coarse texture. If you add it to the liquids, stir and let it sit while you measure out your flour, you will avoid any crunchy tidbits in your cake. [Remove coconut oil from oven, if you haven't done so already.]

4. Once combined together, add to an ungreased 8 X 12 inch pan, spreading to the edges of with a spatula.

(As you can see from the photos, I only had a deep-dish pie pan available. It's a pretty flexible mix.) Don't over mix spelt. It is a gentle grain and if you over stir, can become chewy.

5. With the coconut oil, combine the rest of the topping ingredients. It will be crumbly. Even if it is fairly wet, it will still taste great. Just cut down on the amount of coconut oil the next time.

6. Sprinkle crumb topping over the cake batter and place in oven.

7. Bake for 30 minutes. Since spelt is a wetter grain than traditional bleached white wheat, you may have to bake a little longer or up your temperature 5 or 10 degrees to get the middle set. That's what you want, a set middle. You can stick a knife in the center to test doneness of the cake, but bear in mind that some of the topping will most likely stick to the knife and does not mean the cake isn't done.

8. Remove from oven, cool (if you can wait that long) and enjoy. If you want a little extra sweetness or panache...dust it with powdered sugar before cutting.

Notes:  *I sometimes substitute up to 1/3 of the white spelt with whole spelt for additional health benefits. I have even used 1/3 gluten free flour, 1/3 whole spelt and 1/3 white spelt for the cake batter, but you will need an additional flax egg and possibly a little less liquid. After making the traditional cake a few times, you'll have a good idea what the batter should look like.

**The original recipe called for DOUBLE the amount of topping I have indicated above. But for us, that was just too much sugary topping.

Gluten-free note: Spelt is NOT gluten-free, but is low gluten and can be tolerated by many who are gluten-sensitive.