Monday, April 9, 2012

Everyday Cinnamon Coffee Cake





From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a nice cake to serve with morning coffee or afternoon tea. It comes together easily and the pockets of cinnamon tucked into the batter give it a unique rocky appearance and distinctly sweet-spicy flavor that's unusual in cakes of this type. For years now, I've been trying to duplicate the flavor of the original Sara Lee coffeecake. Since my own attempts have been middling, I've spent more than a little time paging through the work of other cooks and bloggers. When I find a recipe that sounds like it might come close, I'll give it a try. That's how I found the cake I'm featuring today. I stumbled on it while browsing through a blog called Divas Can Cook. The recipe on that site is accompanied by a video that shows how the cake should be made and I thought some of you might find it helpful. There are some potential trouble spots you might encounter when preparing the cake. Working on the theory that forewarned is forearmed, you should know that the cinnamon mixture is really to stiff to swirl through the batter. You can thin it with a little milk or simply push the cinnamon pockets into the batter to achieve a bumpy swirl effect. Those pockets also make it difficult to tell when the cake is done. Starting at the 25 minute mark, test in the yellow cake rather than pocket areas for doneness. My cake took nearly 45 minutes to cook. The cream cheese glaze is what makes this cake special, but the original recipe makes far more of it than is needed for one cake. The quantities in the recipe below have been halved and will be more than enough to top the cake. The cake should be served while it is still warm, but it should sit long enough for the cinnamon pockets to firm up a bit. The cake, by the way, stales quickly so try to serve on those occasions where you have enough people to serve it in one sitting.  This is a nice everyday coffeecake, but I'm still looking for my Sara Lee clone. Here's the recipe for today's cake.

Everyday Cinnamon Coffee Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite adapted from Divas Can Cook

Ingredients
Cinnamon Topping
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
Cream Cheese Glaze
1-oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk milk (may need more)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x13-inch pan. Set aside.
2) To make cinnamon topping: Mix together butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until mixture is smooth and creamy. Set aside.
3) To make cake: Sift flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together in a large bowl. Beat in milk, eggs and vanilla. Stir in melted butter. Pour batter into prepared pan. Drop spoonfuls of cinnamon mixture on top of batter. Use a knife to swirl cinnamon mixture into batter. Bake for 20-35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before glazing.
4) To make glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Beat until smooth and silky. Add more milk, by teaspoons, to achieve a consistency that can be drizzled over cake.
5) To serve: Drizzle glaze over cake and serve warm from the pan. Yield: 12 servings.









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27 comments :

Kitchen Riffs said...

I love cinnamon, and it's particularly nice in coffee cake. Excellent recipe - thanks for the detailed instructions and warnings. Really an excellent post - thanks.

Shug said...

You can bet that this is one recipe that my grandchildren will LOVE!

This will be on the breakfast menu this week, for sure..
Have a good week

Rue said...

I am a cinnamon-crazy girl. This sounds amazing! Will be trying it out - and thanks for the extra tips!

Kristin (Book Sniffers Anonymous) said...

Oh my goodness this looks good. I have yet to make a coffee cake but I have been dying to do it.
Holy Cannoli Recipes

Alicia Foodycat said...

I love it when someone else identifies all the bugs in a recipe before I try it out! That's so helpful, thank you!

Sue/the view from great island said...

Sara lee coffee cake was big in our house growing up, I can still taste those pecans under the frosting/ glaze...this looks like a pretty good match to me!

Dining Alone said...

This is one of my favorite cakes, it looks awesome.

Claudia said...

I love that you are recreating one of the coffee cakes of my youth (which doesn't exist anymore?). The tips are helpful! I don't tend to make coffee cakes - because I eat most of it when I am alone but I think I will save this for a Sunday morning when many are around.

Anonymous said...

I would gladly eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert...really any time! Looks and sounds delicious, Mary. One of my favorite kinds of cake. :)

Gloria Baker said...

This look amazing and nice!!

GLENDA CHILDERS said...

I could eat this everyday. And I love anything with cinnamon.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Cinnamon should be eaten every day:D

David said...

Mary, As I've grown older, I've really come to love a good cinnamon coffee cake. It's a great way to start my day! I also use cinnamon on my morning banana smoothies. Thanks and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Ellen Whyte said...

this sounds lovely and simple and very aromatic. I'm going to try this!

Blond Duck said...

Cinnamon and cream cheese is heaven!

Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine said...

Wow this is brillant... hope you had a great EASTER this is awesome!

Janine said...

glad i popped by because anything cinnamon is a definite yes for me! and your instructions are really detailed and clear!

Katarina said...

I love cinnamon and this sounds like a really tasty cake!

Unknown said...

I just had a piece of really good cinnamon coffee cake today and was thinking I really should make one.. and look where I found the perfect recipe!! Thank you, Mary, you must have been reading my mind!!

Joanne said...

I try to bring some kind of treat into our lab meeting every wednesday...it's early so I usually make them breakfast-y. This would be perfect!

The Harried Cook said...

this sounds awesome! something I could eat literally everyday! :) thanks for sharing this recipe, Mary!

Vicki Bensinger said...

YUM! I love this kind of cake and could probably eat the entire thing in one sitting. This recipe sounds fantastic. I haven't had any in so long. I'll definitely save this recipe to try.

Thanks for sharing !

Jessie-CookingMoments said...

Wow, I just made a coffee cake over the weekend but my is the coffee cheese chiffon cake! And I haven't posted yet! By the way, I love the combination of cinnamon & coffee flavour for a cake!

Sylvia said...

Thanks foryour kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed my recipes
. I loved the cake, cheese and coffee combination make it special.
Love your blog too, full of wonderful recipes

Sir Eatalot said...

A piece of that cake be the "perfect bite" !

We Are Not Martha said...

This is beautiful! And does not look "everyday" at all! It looks very special occasion and incredible... I can almost taste it :)

Sues

Leslie said...

So since this is "everyday" coffee cake..this must certainly mean I can eat it everyday. No?

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