Nutrition-minded critics have noted for years that modern-day granola, given its sugar content, more closely resembles a dessert than the whole-grain, breakfast-appropriate health food that it often masquerades as.
By Brian Levy
Granola is a mixture with a base of, traditionally, rolled oats (although there are quinoa-based or even grain-free options available) enriched with fat (usually a vegetable oil, sometimes butter) and a sweetener (typically cane sugar, maple or honey), and frequently flavored with nuts and spices. It’s then baked until dried, clumped and crunchy. When you grind granola to a powder, you make all of its complexly sweet, toasted-oat, nutty flavors available to disperse into a preparation — a cake batter, for instance — under the guise of just one ingredient. What’s more: Granola can also be deployed as a zero-effort, streusel-like topping for a cake, such as Blueberry Yogurt Coffee Cake, or crisp, such as Granola Apple Crisp, adding a crumbly, sweet crown that is hard to resist. It’s a shortcut to multidimensional flavor and texture.
There’s no shortage of packaged granola options, which means it’s easy to customize the cake to your preferences. Flavors include honey and almond, chocolate and peanut butter, pumpkin and cinnamon, and countless other combinations. For this cake, it’s important to avoid granolas that contain chewy dried fruits (crispy, freeze-dried fruit is fine), as they resist being ground in the food processor, where the cake batter is assembled. (If you’re making or using homemade granola for this recipe, simply leave out or remove the dried fruit.) I’m partial to my homemade granola with pistachios and olive oil, featured in my book, “Good & Sweet.” (Actress Jennifer Garner recently declared it the “Best. Granola. Ever.” on Instagram. Just saying.) In fact, my homemade granola production is what inspired this cake. My partner, Ben, who so often inhaled the heady aroma of oats, date sugar, vanilla and pistachios as I prepared to sell the granola at farmers markets last year, said he wished that the fragrance were linked to a cake: An idea was born.
Granola doesn’t often linger in my home, but if you end up with some that has gone stale, a granola cake is a good way to upcycle it.
Loaf cakes, and their slices, are easy to transport, so this makes for an ideal school, office or picnic treat. (Just be sure to keep in mind any potential allergens, as the recipe uses almond flour and, potentially, granola with nuts.) Serve slices for dessert, with a side of frozen yogurt, or for breakfast, with a side of (not frozen) yogurt. That brings us to the other notable ingredient in the cake: yogurt, which is, of course, a classic pairing with granola. In the case of this cake, yogurt’s acidity and milk solids yield a tender, flavorful crumb, an ideal contrast with the scattering of crunchy granola that adorns the top.
