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Author:
Franco Salzillo
Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most prized spices on the planet. It has its origins in Ceylon, in what now we know as Sri Lanka.
Portuguese explorers found the spice and made it famous all around Europe and then the rest of the world.
Today cinnamon is a synonym with fall, the holiday season and the most heart-warming pastries and cakes.
A cinnamon coffee cake is a worthy ambassador for such comforting treats, and we’re making one from scratch.
This is a pretty standard recipe for a moist and fluffy coffee cake. The result is reliable and consistently outstanding. The only difference is that we’re adding a bit more cinnamon both in the cake and the streusel — the crumbly and buttery topping that makes coffee cakes so satisfying.
Flour, sugar, baking powder, oil, milk, eggs and a pinch of salt are the base for this lovely cake, but cinnamon is the star of the show, especially with vanilla extract as its dancing partner.
The streusel is a three-ingredient beauty: butter, cinnamon and brown sugar come together to crown the cake with a golden, crumbly crust that gives the cake the most addictive texture. Every bite is utterly delicious!
Since this is a coffee cake, we should serve a cup of coffee with it. Because cinnamon is the main ingredient, we should think of a fantastic pumpkin spice latte or even a caramel macchiato to mirror those warm scents and flavors. How does that sound?
From the latte to a cappuccino, any creamy drink will be an ideal partner for our cinnamon coffee cake. Try it and let me know how that goes!
For the streusel:
Preheat the oven at 350°F and grease an 8-inch square pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In a second mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, vanilla and milk.
In a stand mixer, combine the dry and wet mixtures. Pour the batter into the cake pan.
For the streusel, use a small bowl to combine the sugar and the cinnamon.
Use a fork to mash the butter, slowly adding the sugar mixture to form crumbles.
Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven, uncover, and top with the streusel mixture.
Bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.
