Note: The amount of butter in the cake has been corrected to 1 cup as of 12/4/23.
I’ve been doing a few things differently in my market baking this season, as well as in my home.
Firstly, I’ve been baking a wider variety of items, and focusing on seasonal items, especially fruit. More fruit, and cooler or warmer flavors to match the season.
Secondly, I’m staying away from seed oil as much as possible. We’ll keep it simple today and just say butter tastes better in baked goods.
And thirdly, I’ve been tweaking my coffee cake recipe to make it better. Yay!
You can still follow my original recipe for buttermilk coffee cake and make a fine cake. However, today’s recipe is made fully with butter, and the streusel is more likely to stay put and crumbly. The cake itself is fluffier, in my opinion, and just plain tastier. I’m also a fan of adding different fruits, especially blackberries, in addition to the streusel topping. Just about any berry or seasonal sliced fruit (save super juicy things, like citrus) will work here.
Oh, and as I’ve been saying lately, using freshly-ground cinnamon is gonna make your cake so much tastier, too. Get a spice grinder, dangit.
It’s cool being a baker and developing recipes, and getting a chance to make them so. Danged. Much. That you get to improve them. Yay! So without further ado, let’s make coffee cake.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Feel free to add up to 2 cups of berries or sliced fruit before adding the streusel topping.
you will need:
- 3 c all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 c granulated sugar
- 1 c butter, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 1 c buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract For the streusel topping:
- 1 ½ c all-purpose flour
- ¾ c brown sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ c butter, melted
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two loaf pans, 1 tube pan, or a 9 x 13 inch metal baking pan. If using the metal baking pan, line with parchment paper for easier removal for slicing.
- In a small bowl, mix together the streusel topping ingredients with a fork until fully combined. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture and stir until combined. Add half of the buttermilk, and stir until combined. Repeat, alternating the flour and buttermilk and ending with the flour mixture, until you have a smooth dough. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and smooth out the top. If using fresh fruit, sprinkle fruit evenly on top of the cake batter. Remove the streusel from the refrigerator and break it up into chunks with a fork. Sprinkle the streusel evenly on top of the batter. Tap your pan(s) against the counter once or twice to break up any air bubbles.
- Bake cake at 325 degrees F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour if using a tube pan, and 45 minutes to an hour in loaf pans or a 9 x 13 inch pan. Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely before removing from the pans.
The Crunchy Baker 
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