I'm a big fan of recipes that combine at least four or more ingredients that they are decadent enough to begin with, but combined, create this magical, sugar coma-inducing masterpiece, much like the one you see above. They're the kind of treats that are so sugary, so powerful, that you widen your eyes and suck in your cheeks in shock at the first bite. That shocks soon wears off into utter delight, and you're lost in a sugary heaven.

Whew. And then I wake up.

Seriously, though these Carmelita bars from Eddybles look amazing. The pretty toasty white parts atop the treat are the streusel topping. And the only slightly daunting part looks to be unwrapping 48 of those little caramel cubes (and making sure you don't burn them on top of the stove). If you really wanted to be bad, you could substitute the suggested bittersweet or semisweet chips for milk chocolate, to achieve that cheek-sucking reaction I described above.

No. that isn't a typo in the title. Yesterday was March 14th, which, in abbreviated form, is 3.14 (feel free to add the 1592653589793238... if you so desire), better known to us non-mathematicians simply as Pi.

As is usually the tradition here at Slashfood, we are willing to turn just about any circumstance into something to celebrate, so why should Pi Day be any exception? Fortunately for us, the blogosphere was full of others who jumped on this bandwagon as well. In fact, Kitchen Parade collected submissions all week, resulting in dozens of mouth-watering pie recipes all linked up on one page.

So without further ado, following are my top eight favorites, which I will be putting on my "need to make" list. (Corresponding photos can be found in the gallery at the bottom of the page after the jump.)

Now that you have finished your cake, let's review the steps. You read your recipe carefully, preheated the oven, made the streusel, greased the pan, creamed the butter, added the eggs, finished the batter and baked it. It's time to taste it.

The cake is moist, rich and delicious. It isn't a light, spongy cake, but it is very tender and does not seem heavy or dense. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a cake with this much streusel on it – in fact, there was nearly as much streusel as batter in the recipe! I loved how simply pressing the streusel mixture into big chunks before spreading it on the cake resulted in professional looking and tasting topping. Aside from the hitch with the incorrect baking time being given in the recipe, I didn’t have any problems and found the recipe to be easy to follow. This cake is a little too rich for everyday breakfast, but it is a great choice for special occasions and is classic comfort food. The recipe says this serves 10-12, but I far prefer to cut it into 16 smaller slices.

Thanks for watching this "episode" of Cooking Live with Slashfood!

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Put your finished cake into the preheated 350F oven and bake. Martha's recipe says that this will take only 50 minutes, but mine took quite a bit longer, which is hardly surprising given the size of the cake. Perhaps it is not the ingredients or method, but instead the baking time that causes people so many problems when they are working with recipes published by Martha Stewart Living. It is also possible that more people enjoy raw cake batter than I previously imagined. Unless you, too, enjoy raw batter, I suggest that you always perform the "toothpick" test or simply bake until the cake springs back to make sure that your cake is finished. When a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, it is done.

After the cake has cooled slightly, you need to turn it out of the pan and onto the cooling rack. Run a sharp knife around the around the outer and inner edges of the pan. Remove tube portion with cake attached. Run knife over the bottom, loosening the cake. Gently replace cake in pan high-sided pan, which will support it as you turn it upside down. Place a clean dishtowel on top of pan and a baking sheet on top of that. Carefully flip pan over, turning cake out onto the baking sheet. Reinvert onto wire rack. Allow to cool completely.

 Once the cake has baked at 350F for 60-70 minutes and a tester has come out clean, you're almost done. Move the cake to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. After loosening the cake with a knife, carefully turn it out onto a baking sheet and reinvert it onto you wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

There is only one more things to do.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Once your eggs have been added, alternately add the yogurt (or buttermilk) and the flour mixture. Adding ingredients alternately allows for thorough and even incorporation without over mixing, which can make the resulting cake tough, not soft. In any recipe that calls for you to alternate or add ingredients in multiple additions, you should make sure to end with an addition of dry ingredients. This is the easiest way to tell that you have mixed well enough, because you are finished as soon as all the flour has been incorporated into the batter. Don't forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as you mix.

Add the yogurt and flour alternately to the creamed butter/egg mixture. Scrape half of your batter into the greased, 10-inch tube pan that you prepared earlier. Smooth batter with a spatula and top with 2 ½ cups of streusel mixture. Scrape remaining batter into pan, on top of streusel, gently spreading it to the sides of the pan with your spatula. Use your fingers to squeeze remaining streusel together into large and small chunks, then top batter with all remaining streusel. It's time to bake the cake.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Once your butter and sugar mixture is light and fluffy, it's time to add the eggs. Eggs should always be added one at a time because fats and liquids do not mix together well. While egg yolks are fatty and blend in relatively quickly, egg whites are not, and when you add them to your creamed butter and begin to stir them in, you will see that they resist incorporation. A minute of vigorously whisking the whole egg into the batter will break up the egg and allow it to be properly mixed in. It is also simply much easier to work with the eggs one by one, rather than having a huge amount of liquid sloshing around in the bowl. The batter will look smooth and shiny once the eggs are added. If it curdles a bit, don't worry about it. That can happen because of the wet to dry ratio or because the ingredients were at slightly different temperatures. Just keep going.

Break all your eggs into a small bowl and add them to the creamed butter one at a time. Then get your bowl of dry ingredients, because it's time for the next step.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

With your dry ingredients set aside, you can begin work with the butter and sugar. It is important for the butter to be at room temperature when you begin to work with it here, as soft butter will be mixed more evenly with the sugar than cold butter. Creaming the butter allows for the creation of tiny air bubbles. These bubbles will trap air and expand when the cake cooks, creating a lighter texture than a cake made with oil or melted butter, neither of which will create air bubbles when mixed with sugar. If you butter is cold, not at room temperature, it will result in uneven creaming and you will probably see air pockets in your cake when you slice it.

When creaming, look for a smooth and fluffy consistency, not granular. I recommend using an electric mixer or some sort for this. It will take about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Once your butter and sugar are creamed together, continue on.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

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.