Are you looking for an easy strawberry rhubarb coffee cake recipe without milk? If so, this might be just what you need.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
This easy cake recipe uses the perfect combination of strawberries and rhubarb to create a delicious cake for spring and summer.
Recently one of our daughters was diagnosed with a severe intolerance to milk protein. She's also supposed to avoid nuts that come from trees for now.
So for the past twelve weeks, we've been vigilant about checking all the labels on all the food we buy. As always, we're trying to make more of our meals from scratch.
I've been baking at home for a long time, and we have a whole binder full of "family-approved" favorite recipes. Now, my task is to go through all of these recipes and change them up, removing the dairy and/or replacing it with non-dairy milk. No milk, butter, sour cream, or margarine.
Substitutions
Depending on the original recipe, I'm replacing dairy ingredients with the following:
- coconut milk
- oatmeal milk
- applesauce
- coconut oil
- canola oil (may try grapeseed oil too)
- crushed flax seeds
- banana
Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Cake Recipe Without Milk
This dairy-free strawberry rhubarb coffee cake recipe evolved with some trial and error. It uses oat milk instead of regular milk.
We're lucky to have fresh rhubarb through the summer months. Our backyard garden includes tart rhubarb plants at each corner.
We also grow strawberries in pots and planters. So I've been experimenting with various new strawberry recipes too.
Right now, I love this rose sangria with fresh sliced strawberries. A refreshing summer evening drink. And my husband has asked me to make these strawberry cheesecake cookies for Father's Day.
During rhubarb season (which starts in June here) we harvest rhubarb stalks a couple of times each week. So this time of year we're always on the lookout for rhubarb desserts like strawberry rhubarb pie, strawberry rhubarb jam, and strawberry rhubarb bundt cake.
Since rhubarb can have a bit of a sour taste, many rhubarb recipes call for at least one cup sugar or more. We reduce the sugar because I prefer a less sweet flavor.
Baking with oat milk works well in our recipes because we love that oat flavor. However, oat milk is also denser than the 1% dairy milk I normally use. So I add a little oil to lighten it up.
Dairy-Free Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake Recipe
This easy, moist cake recipe includes sweet strawberries. The sweetness of the strawberries helps reduce the need for sugar. (And by the way, if you love strawberries, check out my Homemade Strawberry Syrup Recipe!)
Recipe
Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake Without Milk
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup oat milk with 1 tablespoon vinegar mixed in
- ½ cup canola oil you could use coconut oil - need ½ cup liquid oil, NOT solid coconut oil
- 1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries
- 1 cup finely diced rhubarb
- CRUMBLE TOPPING INGREDIENTS
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tbsps brown sugar
Instructions
- Set oven temp to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease an 8 x 8 cake pan OR line it with parchment paper
- Combine all the dry ingredients (the first five) in a large mixing bowl.
- Make a well in the middle.
- Combine wet ingredients (egg, oatmeal + vinegar, oat milk, and canola oil) in a medium bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients bowl.
- Add the strawberries and rhubarb.
- Mix in the fruit gently, otherwise, you'll end up with pink coffee cake!
- Stir until just moistened.
- Pour batter into the cake pan with a spatula.
- In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients.
- Sprinkle topping over the top of the cake batter.
- Pop it in the oven.
- After 30 minutes, use a cake tester or knife to ensure the center is set. (I just stick a butter knife in the middle).
- Serve warm, or let the cake cool on a rack
- Enjoy with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or just as a simple cake snack!
Notes
Nutrition
We love quickbreads because they're quick to make, they use up leftover fruit, and they're inexpensive.
We often freeze them for later as well. And they're easy to double to triple when we're feeding a crowd. And as a homeschooling family, it's so easy to slice up a coffee cake or loaf for a healthy, fast snack during a busy day.
How do you adapt traditional recipes to make them dairy-free? Let us know in the comments below.
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This was a huge hit! I had some frozen rhubarb to use up and came across this recipe. My kids devoured it, and I loved that it wasn't overly sweet!
Found this recipe due to a family member's milk intolerance. Surprisingly the whole family loved it. Turned out moist and the flavors were amazing.
This was really good. We used the oat milk as you suggested and the cake turned out deliciously fruity and moist. I loved the strawberry rhubarb combo.
I made this coffee cake for brunch today, and it was wonderful! Strawberry and rhubarb are my favorite fruit combo, and they were delicious with that crumb topping. Delicious!
Made it just the way it's written and came out perfect! My coworkers enjoyed the treat! TY for this recipe!
Rice milk, almond milk & coconut milk all work well sweet in recipes that call for dairy milk, except for instant pudding.
Oat milk works well for both sweet and savory. You can also get by using unsweetened versions of almond or coconut milk. I think rice milk works OK for savory, too… Like mashed potatoes.
Hemp milk is my favorite substitute in creamy casseroles and soups.
I use flax milk in smoothies, for the resistant starch benefit. You can buy it with protein and omegas and it is in the long-life shelf cartons at Natural Grocer. (Ripple is another option, but I pick unsweetened and add my own stevia or xylitol)
Earth balance is dairy free and makes both spread and sticks. They even have a soy-free version. The sticks substitute very well for butter in cooking and baking.
Voilife is a decent cheese substitute. I keep shreds in the freezer and just pull out what I need.
Cashew-based yogurt and kefir are the best taste and consistency in my opinion
I like Toffuti Better Than Sour Cream. (Soy-based)
I haven’t found a cream cheese substitute taste good plain, but the Daiya version goes well with a little jam or to melt some with Earth Balance and alternative milk for
white sauce/Alfredo. You can also meet in some shreds for a cheesier sauce. Play around with combos to find the one you like. You can also melt in some Tofutti BTSC.
Cracky! Your direction mention "oatmeal +vinegar" but your list of ingredients doesn't. Hoping it is just a mistake since it is nearly in the pan.
Oh goodness this looks so good! I love baking with rhubarb and love that you've incorporated it into a coffee cake recipe! Popping in from Lou Lou Girls today 🙂
This looks so good! I haven't had rhubarb since I was a kid. We had a neighbor that grew it and allowed us to pick it and eat it (we always dunked it in sugar).
I haven't yet. I planned to, but my gang ate it all in one sitting, lol!
Have you tried freezing this? It seems like it should be fine, but it’s nice to not be the guinea pig!
Yup, it's tough trying to find a substitute for cheese....and butter. In baking it's easy to find substitutes - you could make this with coconut milk or almond milk instead of the oat milk. 🙂
Oh dear! Dairy free doesn't sound so bad (I don't like milk anyway) until you list cheese, sour cream, butter!!! And.... I've never had rhubarb!
I tried to grow it once, but wasn't real successful, but I want to try again.a
🙂 gwingal
This looks so good! Unfortunately, I have to be gluten-free now, so unless I want to do some serious fiddling (which I might once the weather is kind enough to get below 90F!), I won't be able to taste this one. It looks really good though!
Not much more to say than YUMMMMMM … and always love a healthy recipe