One morning I woke up and was craving coffee cake. Like, really, really craving coffee cake. I couldn’t stop thinking about it – especially those little buttery sweet cinnamon morsels that sit atop the soft cake that just kind of pop and melt in your mouth with the first bite…drooooooool. So I decided to get my butt in gear and make one instead of grabbing one at the grocery store. I figured I had everything to make a coffee cake already in my cupboard – turns out this lucky lady was right!

So I got to googlin’ to see if I couldn’t find a recipe that was doable for my slightly-not-so-great-at-baking self and I landed on a recipe by David Lebovitz, which he had adapted from Kamran Siddiqi’s book Hand Made Baking. It was a great straight-forward recipe that I’m happy to say I didn’t mess up, and I’ll certainly be making again. Now that I’m writing about this, I’m going to take a quick break to go nibble on a piece. Brb. Promise I’ll finish the blog…

…I’m back! Recipe posted below!

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 45-50 Minutes
Servings: 9

Ingredients

Topping
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbs ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed and melted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt or sour cream
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract

First, make the topping. You just mix together the 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, 1/2 cup of melted butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Stir until everything is well combined, set aside.

Next, butter a 9-inch square cake pan (somehow, I’ve managed to live life without said 9-inch square cake pan, so I used an 8-inch pan which lead to a slightly longer cook time and a thicker cake – I lived to tell the tale). Line the pan with parchment paper or dust it with flour and be sure to tap out any excess. Then, preheat the oven to 325ºF.

To make the cake batter, I used my stand mixer with the paddle attachment, but you could of course use a large bowl and a spatula if you’re inclined to beef up you’re arm muscles. To start, cream the 1/2 cup of softened butter and granulated sugar until well combined and smooth. Then add the egg and the egg yolk and mix well.

Then, in a medium bowl, mix together the 2 cups of flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, until well combined. Add half of these dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture, then add the yogurt or sour cream (I used sour cream), the vanilla, and finally the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing just until the dry ingredients are moistened. You want to be careful not to over-mix as it will cause your batter to be more dense and chewy.

Drop the batter into four large dollops, equally spaced apart, into the prepared baking pan. I wasn’t sure why this was the direction at first – but it is necessary because the batter is so thick, this will help to ensure you can spread it all evenly. Use a metal spatula to spread the batter and ensure the batter makes it into the corners.

Then onto the most yummy part. Add the topping over the cake batter, gently pressing down into the batter as you go so that the topping will adhere a bit to the batter. And yes, use all the topping. Pop this dish into the middle rack of the oven for about 45 to 50 minutes (if you’re using the right 9-inch pan) – I had to cook mine just a smidge longer using the 8-inch dish.

Remove the cake from the oven once it’s cooked through, which you can check by sticking a toothpick into the center – when it comes out clean, it’s done. But be really careful not to over-bake as the last thing you want is a dry coffee cake.

The recipe notes that the cake can be kept at room temperature for up to four days, well-wrapped.

Give this recipe a go y’all, you will not regret it! And check out David Lebovitz’s blog, he lives in Paris and posts absolutely lovely recipes. Talk about a dream gig! Maybe one day…