DIFFICULTY LEVEL: EASY-TO-MODERATE
Coffee cake – first thing in the morning next to a steaming cup of Joe…there are few things in life better than that. A dense crumbly texture with cinnamon and chocolate notes. This cake is pleasantly sweet but not overly so. It’s very hard to take just one bite, so get a big plate ready for this one!
Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Streusel
- 30 g Sugar
- 25 g Almond meal (almond flour)
- 25 g Cake Flour
- 7 g Cinnamon 1 Tbsp
- 21 g Melted butter 1.5 Tbsp
Filling
- 75 g Brown Sugar
- 7 g Cinnamon 1 Tbsp
- 7 g Cocoa Powder 1 Tbsp
- 40 g Walnuts (chopped)
- 60 g Chocolate Chips
Batter
- 1 Stick Salted Butter Room temperature
- 140 g White Sugar
- 30 g Brown Sugar
- 7 g Vanilla 1.5 tsp
- 2 Eggs
- 115 g Sour Cream Yogurt is fine too
- 190 g Milk
- 325 g Cake Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
Instructions
Prepare the streusel (the topping)
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and break up clumps with your fingers until you have a sand-like consistency.
Prepare the filling
- Mix all the ingredients together in a different bowl except for the walnuts and chocolate chips. Keep those in yet another bowl pre-measured and ready to go.
Prepare the batter
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Mix the sour cream and milk in a bowl. No need to make the mix perfect, clumps are fine.
- With a whip attachment, beat the butter, sugars and vanilla until you get a pale creamy consistency. Scrape the bowl several times as you do this.
- While the mixer is on medium speed, add eggs one at a time. Go back to high speed and whip until you get a pale stiff whipped cream-consistency. Scrape the bowl a few times as you whip.
- On low speed, add the milk-sour cream liquid and the cake flour alternating. In other words, add some liquid, then some flour, then some liquid, and then more flour. Do this in 3-4 steps until all the ingredients are in. Add your baking powder during one of the increments. Stop and scrape the bowl several times as you progress.
Assembly
- Pour half your batter into a greased baking dish.
- Sprinkle all of your filling powder on the batter.
- Sprinkle your chocolate chips and walnuts evenly over the batter.
- Pour the other half of the batter over everything.
- Use a butter knife to swirl the filling and chocolate chips/walnuts a bit.
- Sprinkle streusel on top.
- Bake at 350F for 52-60min or until you can place a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.
- Allow to fully cool before enjoying. This cake is best fresh, but it is still great 2-3 days later as well. Refrigerate after being left out more than 3 days.
Prepare things in advance
Streusel
Streusel is a crumbly topping used for pies, muffins and other pastries. It is typically uneven with bigger crunchy pieces mixed with smaller and finer pieces as well. For this recipe, I like to use a more evenly textured streusel, so I incorporate melted butter as opposed to chunks of cold butter.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and break up the clumps with your fingers until you have an even, heavy, sand-like consistency.
Filling
In another bowl, mix all the powders for the filling together except for the chocolate chips and walnuts. Put those in a separate bowl.
Milk-Sour Cream, eggs, chocolate chips and walnuts
I recommend mixing (loosely) the milk and sour cream in a bowl so it is ready to go. Yogurt works instead of sour cream, but I like the latter better. I also suggest getting your two eggs as well as your chocolate chips and walnuts ready to go.
Prepare the batter
This is a good time to preheat your oven to 350F.
Start by whipping the butter, sugars and vanilla until you get a smooth creamy mixture. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl a few times as you proceed to make sure everything is incorporated.
Add the eggs, one at a time, while whipping on medium speed. Switch to high speed. You should get a smooth, pale-colored mixture which resembles a stiff whipping cream. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl often.
Now on low speed, add the flour-baking powder and milk-sour cream mixtures. It’s good practice to add each in increments. That means adding some flour and then some liquid. After it is incorporated, add more flour and more liquid. Do this in 3 or 4 steps until everything is fully mixed in. Scrape the sides of the bowl!
Assembly
Place half of your completed batter into your baking pan. I use a 2.75Qt Pyrex rectangular glass container to bake with. It fits perfectly in my toaster oven, which works extremely well on a convection setting. I do pre-grease the baking container.
Now sprinkle all of your filling evenly on the batter. Then add on top of that your walnuts and chocolate chips. Now, add the second half of your batter.
Now use a flat instrument like a butter knife to swirl the batter and filling in the middle so they mix together. Do this roughly just so the filling gets spread around inside a bit. Flatten the top when you are done.
Now sprinkle on all of your streusel. Place into your preheated oven. Rotate it every 20 minutes to assure an even bake. When you can place a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean, it is ready. Allow it to cool completely before enjoying. I find that this cake is best the same day it is baked, but the following day or two is also great. After 3 days at room temperature, it should be moved to the refrigerator. In my house, it never lasts that long 🙂 .
Did you try this recipe? How did it go? Please share your own tips, tricks or suggestions below. Your feedback is appreciated.