We’re not sure who’s original idea it was to have cake for breakfast, but the holidays seem like an appropriate time to indulge in such a practice. Furthermore, we whole-heartedly approve of the coffee cake, due in major part to the traditional presence of a streusel topping. If there is streusel involved, sign us up. Those sweet, buttery, crunchy nodules atop a spicy, moist cake is pretty great. This particular coffee cake celebrates the holiday flavor of gingerbread and would be a welcome addition to any holiday breakfast table. We appreciate this recipe because it’s not overly-sweet, perhaps because of the absence of an icing. Just dust with a little powdered sugar to add another aesthetic dimension.
This dough is incredibly soft:
Allow your kids to help you squish cold butter into the dry ingredients and sprinkle over the batter:
Plan on a little decoration for your cake, just to generate a little more interest. A little gingerbread man cookie (think Trader Joe’s) or a Christmas ornament makes a festive finishing touch:
Since coffee cake is thought by some to have originated in Germany, let’s learn a few things about Germany and it’s people:
- Around 25% of us in the U.S. claim some German ancestry.
- Germany is just covered in animal parks (like little zoos) and theme parks (Mom can attest to that – she lived there for 6 years). Germans looooove spending time in the outdoors.
- German athletes have won more Olympic medals than any other country in the world.
Adapted only slightly from: Gingerbread Coffee Cake #11
- For the cake:
- 1¼ sticks softened butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons gingerbread spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- For the topping:
- ¾ cup flour
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon gingerbread spice
- pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoons cubed cold butter
- Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs, molasses, and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour with the gingerbread spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat into the butter mixture in batches, alternating with the sour cream.
- Pour into a buttered 9-inch springform pan.
- For the topping, mix the flour with the dark brown sugar, gingerbread spice and a pinch of salt; work in the cubed cold butter.
- Sprinkle over the batter.
- Bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown, 45-50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool.
