“In life one has a choice to take one of two paths: to wait for some special day – or to celebrate each special day.” -Rasheed Ogunlaru
A special day certainly calls for a special occasion recipe. With a new baby in the family, the holiday of Eid upon us, and Mo & I completing our goal of running five 5k races this year – we certainly had our reasons to celebrate and I was ready to spend all day baking in order to do that.
While this recipe has many steps, requires a few bowls, spoons and various ingredients, it certainly didn’t take all day. Nonetheless, recipes like this are perfect for a special occasion when you want to spend some extra time baking up something spectacular. This is the exact recipe I could have hoped for and precisely what comes to mind when I think of coffeecake. A wonderfully moist center, crispy edges, a spiced cinnamon-sugar filling, and of course, a buttery crumb topping.
Next to the crumb topping, the filling is my favorite part. The cocoa powder is purely for color; not flavor and the cinnamon and brown sugar creates a nice filling. The key to incorporating the filling in the coffeecake is to gently swirl the filling into the batter. You can use a knife or offset spatula to do this. The technique is similar to making a marble cake.
This recipe makes a lot of coffeecake, and it was happily enjoyed by both children and adults. I was beyond thrilled that my family enjoyed this recipe. They immediately asked me questions about how I made it, the ingredients used etc…and we discussed the techniques and tricks while drinking our tea and reaching for seconds.
Special Occasion Cinnamon-Streusel Coffeecake
Adapted from, King Arthur Flour
- Yield : 24 servings
Ingredients
- STREUSEL TOPPING:
- Granulated Sugar - 1 cup
- Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
- All-Purpose Flour - 1 & 1/2 cups
- Ground Cinnamon - 1 tablespoon
- Unsalted Butter - 6 tablespoons, melted
- FILLING:
- Brown Sugar - 1 cup
- Ground Cinnamon - 1 & 1/2 tablespoons
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 1 teaspoon
- CAKE:
- Unsalted Butter - 3/4 cup, softened
- Salt - 1 & 1/4 teaspoons
- Granulated Sugar - 1 & 1/2 cups
- Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup
- Baking Powder - 2 & 1/2 teaspoons
- Vanilla Extract - 2 teaspoons
- Eggs - 3
- Plain Yogurt - 3/4 cup
- 2% Milk - 1 & 1/4 cups
- All-Purpose Flour - 3 & 3/4 cups
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.
- To make the streusel topping: Whisk together the sugar, salt, flour and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring until well combined. Set the streusel aside.
- Prepare the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
- To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, both sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk until well combined. You don't need to whisk out all the clumps.
- Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.
- Pour/spread half the batter (about 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon filling evenly atop the batter.
- Spread the remaining batter on top of the filling. Use a knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter. Don't combine the filling and batter thoroughly; just gently swirl the filling through the batter.
- Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter in the pan.
- Bake the cake until it's a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (about 50 to 55 minutes for the 9" round cake pans and 55 to 60 minutes for a 9" x 13" baking pan). When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving.
NUTRITION FACTS (From KingArthurFlour): Serving size 1 slice, Servings Per Batch 24, CALORIES 340, FAT 11g (SAT 7g), PROTEIN 5g, CARBOHYDRATES 56g, FIBER 1g, SUGARS 36g, CHOLESTEROL 55mg, SODIUM 250mg.
