"streusel, coffee cake" news and stories

Before you get started on the batter, you'll need to grease your pan. We're using a 10-inch tube pan, most often used for pound cakes and angel food cakes. I used nonstick cooking spray to grease my pan, but butter or shortening will work just as well. Use your fingers or a paper towel to get your grease into every corner. Once the cake has been baked, we'll need to turn it out onto a cooling rack and it's important that the cake does not stick, as it could cause the cake to break when you flip it over.

Once your 10-inch tube pan is greased, put your dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt - into a medium bowl and whisk until well combined. Set this bowl aside and continue on to the next step.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

 

 

Place all your streusel ingredients, except for the butter, in a large bowl and stir together. Cut the butter into 10 or 12 large chunks and add them to the bowl. Using your hands, rub the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is crumbly. Some pieces can be large - the size of an almond or pecan - but they shouldn't all be that big. Notice in the photo how the sizes of the lumps in my mixture vary.

I wasn't thrilled with the recipe's instructions to have the butter soft for the streusel, since it is much easier to work into flour when it has been chilled. What this really means is that your hands will get dirty during this step. Just keep working until the streusel is done, since it only takes 4 or 5 minutes. And don't plan on answering the phone.

Rub the ingredients together to create a nice, sandy streusel. Set this bowl aside and go on to the next step.

The first thing to do, once you have your ingredients list, is check your recipe and preheat your oven. This gives it time to come to the right temperature. There is no "right" amount of time, as all ovens vary. Some will heat up in five minutes and others will take twenty. It's best to be on the safe side and give it more time, rather than less. Next, gather your supplies. You'll need flour, sugar, butter, etc. I find that it is helpful to have all my supplies on the table in front of me when I start to work, because you can always grab a spoon if you need an extra one, but if you forget an ingredient, it could be a disaster for your cake.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grab a bowl and the streusel ingredients and head over to the next step.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Tomorrow I will be chronicling the steps required to make a Streusel Coffee Cake recipe from Martha Stewart Living. This is a great way to follow along with a recipe because you’ll be able to see all the steps and hear about all the tools and techniques you’ll need – just like on a cooking show, but without commercials! And like televised cooking shows, there is no pressure to make the food to be able to enjoy the process. I'll document everything with photos.

Of course, you can’t “cook along” with something you don’t know the ingredients for. Here is a list of everything you’ll need to make the cake, with a few notes of my own. I am using less cardamom than the original recipe because I am a huge cinnamon fan and a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to streusel coffee cake. I did use a bit, but feel free to substitute cinnamon for all of the cardamom. If you don't have yogurt, you can substitute buttermilk.

Alicat from Something so Clever can invite me over for breakfast anytime. Her banana coffee cake is made extra moist with cream cheese incorporated into the batter, in addition to butter and mashed bananas. It is topped with a crunchy streusel of cinnamon, sugar and pecans. A coffee cake, unlike its name suggests, is not necessarily coffee flavored nor does it usually contain coffee. It is meant to be served with coffee, much as a tea cake is intended to be served with tea. These cakes are not usually served for dessert as they are perceived to be homey and simple, perfect for a sweet breakfast or coffee break during the day, though many are quite rich with butter or sour cream.

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