Well who doesn't love a good coffee cake?
Cake. Cinnamon. Streusel. Kind of difficult not to like it.
Somehow, we have already made it halfway through the summer. July 4th was a week ago and time is flying by so quickly. Before we know it, schools will start back up, and fall will come around-- my favorite season!
I recently got promoted at work, and am now running the bakery. Having just graduated from school last May, never would I have thought that in a year I would be managing anything, let alone in a field that I actually love doing. I was definitely just in the right place at the right time. It's only been a few weeks into my new position, but so far it has been great, although pretty stressful as well. Thankfully, my entire culinary team is very supportive and I couldn't have asked for better coworkers to be there for me!
This past week in particular was a non-stop flow of production, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, as well as cake and cookie orders from the catering team, and other baked goods that were specifically requested for a special project my chef is working on. Overall, it's a lot of fun. I also got to teach my first ever groups of students who were touring the kitchen at work for a Culinary Career Day through a local youth program. My coworker in the bakery had the brilliant idea of showing them how to make Creme Brûlées, which also became interactive once the students could brûlée the little custards themselves. Of course, after my first group of students I realized how dangerous that actually was. Kids shouldn't play with fire. Ever. Nothing happened, but better to prevent danger than to be sorry later! So that idea ended quickly, and I stuck to demonstrating the brûlée process myself, and allowing them to eat samples as the other interactive part.
Back to the coffee cake. This week it's my turn to bring a snack to the college & career group I go to on Sundays after the main church service. I wanted to bring a pastry item, and after thinking of possible muffins, breads, and scones, I turned to coffee cake. Simple. Done. My friend mentioned making scuffins-- which apparently is the new thing. Like the cronut, scuffins are the hybrid of combining scones and muffins. I wanted to just stick to something classic though.
Some of my favorite coffee cakes that I've tried fold berries or other types of fruit into the batter, but I wanted to keep this one plain and full of cinnamon. Actually, I did add chocolate. But that's because chocolate is always necessary in my world.
Back to the coffee cake. This week it's my turn to bring a snack to the college & career group I go to on Sundays after the main church service. I wanted to bring a pastry item, and after thinking of possible muffins, breads, and scones, I turned to coffee cake. Simple. Done. My friend mentioned making scuffins-- which apparently is the new thing. Like the cronut, scuffins are the hybrid of combining scones and muffins. I wanted to just stick to something classic though.
Some of my favorite coffee cakes that I've tried fold berries or other types of fruit into the batter, but I wanted to keep this one plain and full of cinnamon. Actually, I did add chocolate. But that's because chocolate is always necessary in my world.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Cake
1.5 sticks butter, room temp
1.5 cups sugar, granulated
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2.5 cups flour, all-purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs cinnamon
Streusel
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour, all-purpose
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs + 2 Tbs butter, cold
*2/3 cup chocolate chips, semisweet
Method
Cake
1.5 sticks butter, room temp
1.5 cups sugar, granulated
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2.5 cups flour, all-purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs cinnamon
Streusel
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour, all-purpose
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs + 2 Tbs butter, cold
*2/3 cup chocolate chips, semisweet
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
- Make the cake by creaming together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla, and mix until combined. Add the sour cream and mix well.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add to the wet ingredients just until you reach a smooth batter.
- Next, make the streusel. Combine the first 2 Tbs of butter with the rest of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips and mix by hand just rubbing the butter with you fingers so that the mixture forms little pea-like size pieces.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with two thirds of the streusel, dollop the other 2 Tbs over the streusel, followed by all of the chocolate chips. Top with the rest of the batter and smooth out to cover the layer of streusel. Top the batter with the rest of the streusel.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool completely.