Week 5: Coffee Cake

It dawned on me after making this cake that the rules I set up for this project don’t really allow for me to take time to perfect a recipe. Because if the rules did allow me to perfect a recipe, this would be a recipe I’d want to perfect.

I made this cake on a weeknight so I was looking for something quick and easy and I figured coffee cake would be a nice breakfast treat to have around. I looked up some recipes and found this one, but then took a good deal of creative license, adding Kahlua (you know, ’cause it’s coffee cake), buttermilk, and cake flour and doubling the crumb topping. I also baked in a springform pan, which also wasn’t in the original directions.

So here’s my mise en place.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I sifted the cake flour, white sugar, baking powder, and salt  into a large bowl.

Next I lightly beat the egg in a small bowl.

Then I added the buttermilk, Kahlua, and vanilla.

The wet ingredients were added to the dry. I mixed until just combined.

I then poured the batter into a greased and floured springform pan. The batter was still a little lumpy.

The next step was to the make the crumb topping, which any coffee cake connoisseur knows is the BEST part about coffee cake. I mean, the cake part is really just the vehicle for getting the tasty crumbs into one’s mouth. I’m not sure why I didn’t just mix up some brown sugar and butter to just shovel in my mouth. But then I wouldn’t have much to photograph or write about. Moving on.

I mixed brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, and a dash of flour in a small bowl. Mmm, this part was tasty.

Then I dropped the crumbs on top of the cake batter. I read conflicting directions on this step in different recipes. Some suggested pouring the melted butter on top of the cake batter before layering the dry crumb mixture on top. Other recipes suggested dropping butter-less crumbs on top of the cake and then pouring the melted butter on top of the whole thing. Honestly, it was my intention to do the latter, but I forgot and mixed the melted butter into the crumb mixture. It kind of looked like sausage pizza.

I then baked it for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan at the 10 minute mark.

I’m not positive, but I think my using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour may have caused the cake to rise up and around the crumb mixture, resulting in a crater-filled cake. I didn’t wait long before removing the sides of the pan. I was curious if the cake, despite how it looked, tasted okay.

I cut myself a slice when the cake was still warm. It was crumbly and the Kahlua taste was a too intense. It wasn’t until 48 hours after the cake had been baked, that I really enjoyed the taste. But because of the cake’s strange look, I wouldn’t choose to make it this way again, especially not for serving to company.

I debated even posting the recipe I had concocted to make this. So I’m really just posting it for my own personal reference so when I decide to come back to this recipe to try it a new way, I’ll know what I did this time around. So am I telling you not to try this recipe? Kind of, yes. But if anyone’s willing to review the recipe and offer insight, please do. I’m all ears.