Coffee Cake with Protein Pancake Mix – Sugar Free!

Super easy Coffee Cake with Protein Pancake Mix with the perfect cinnamon streusel, made in just one bowl! Healthy protein pancake mix coffee cake is low fat sugar-free too with protein powder and zero-calorie monkfruit sweetener.

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I was actually just going to go for a classic pancake mix protein cake, but I had mentioned a coffee cake to my husband and he really wanted to try one. Combined the two and we got this recipe here.

Can you use pancake mix to make Coffee Cake?

I was skeptical about it, but I saw that you can make cake with pancake mix, so yes, it’s possible to make Coffee Cake with pancake mix as well!

Low-key hoped it would come out right coz it was quite a bit of an experiment; Adapted my friend Chahinez’s Vanilla Pancake Mix Cake recipe and made some substitutions to turn this into 1. High-protein, and 2. Coffee cake. Major relief that it worked out!

My favoite part though? That streusel! Damn was that amazing?! I could have it plain by itself!

Ingredients for Coffee Cake with Protein Pancake Mix

This Coffee Cake with Protein Pancake Mix is an easy, one-bowl recipe made with simple ingredients you probably have in your pantry already.

• Protein Pancake Mix – I used the protein pancake mix from Trader Joe’s for this recipe.
  Kodiak Cakes Buttermilk Protein Pancake Mix is another great option, but you can also make this cake with any other just-add-water pancake mix.
• Vanilla Protein Powder needed for a high protein cake and also replaces the ‘sugar’.
  I used Whey-Casein Vanilla milkshake protein powder from Quest Nutrition.
• Unflavored Protein Powder to replace some of the pancake mix here. I used Multipurpose mix from Quest Nutrition again.
• Non-fat Plain Greek Yogurt – another protein-packed ingredient
• Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Unsweetened Applesauce
• A bit of Melted Butter
• An Egg

For the Sugar-free Cinnamon Streusel:

• More Protein Pancake Mix
• Ground Cinnamon
• 1:1 Zero Calorie Brown Sugar Substitute – I use Lakanto, to keep this recipe sugar free;  (code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount here too)
• Some cold Cubed Butter

And for the Icing:

• Zero Calorie Powdered  Sugar Substitute – I use Lakanto here as well (code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount here)

How to make Easy Pancake Mix Coffee Cake

This pancake mix coffee cake is super easy to make, and doesn’t need any fancy baking skills. Just one bowl and a small food processor. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Whisk all wet ingredients in a bowl – milk, Greek yogurt, applesauce, egg and melted butter.
   Use melted butter so that it mixes well into the healthy pancake coffee cake batter.

2. Add the dry ingredients – protein pancake mix, vanilla and unflavored protein powder.

3. Gently fold to mix the batter.
   Don’t over-mix the batter! Gently fold; over-mixing will make your coffee cake dense because of the protein powder.

4. Taste the batter and see if you need some extra sweetener.
   Use stevia powder to maintain the consistency of the batter and have healthy, sugar free coffee cake.

Make Streusel:

5. Combine ingredients in a small food processor – protein pancake mix, brown sugar, cinnamon and cold butter.

Use cold butter, so that you get a crumbly streusel and not melty butter.

6. Process until crumbles just form!
   Over-processing will make the butter melt

Assemble and Bake:

7. Pour into baking pan in layers: ½ batter, ½ streulsel, ½ batter, ½ streusel.
   Make sure to evenly spread the streusel.

8. Bake for 25-30 mins.

9. Stop baking when tester/knife comes out just dry, but moist.
   Don’t over-bake the cake or it will get tough.

Frosting:

10. Let cake cool before icing or the icing will melt.

11. Whisk powdered sugar and milk.

Don’t add too much milk in the icing; It will come together quickly.

How to store Coffee Cake made using Pancake Mix

This coffee cake made using pancake mix can be countertop for 1-2 days or in the fridge for upto 4 days or freezer for 2-3 months. Use an airtight container though, and thaw frozen cake before eating.

Alternatives for Healthy Pancake Coffee Cake Recipe

For the perfect healthy pancake coffee cake recipe, I would highly suggest using the ingredients recommended, but here’s some alternatives for you can try:

• Protein Pancake Mix: Any just-add water pancake mix like krusteaz or bisquik.
• Unflavored Protein Powder: More protein pancake mix, but also reduce the milk to ½ cup
• Unsweetened Applesauce: Mashed Banana or Pumpkin Puree
• Melted Butter: Melted Coconut Oil or Dairy Free Butter
• Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt
• Almond Milk: Regular Milk
• 1:1 Zero Calorie Sugar Replacement: Regular brown sugar or powdered sugar (this won’t be sugar free though, and also higher in calories)

More Recipes with Protein Pancake Mix:

• Baked Protein Pancakes
• Pancake Mix Protein Muffins
• Blueberry Protein Pancake Bread
• Pancake Mix Protein Donuts
• Pancake Mix Protein Brownies
• Protein Fruitcake Bread with Pancake Mix