Cinnamon Coffee Cake

You can tell it's fall when I start baking, that's only because my house gets way to hot in the summer to bake so we give the oven a long break.

Earlier this week I got in the mood to bake something but I didn't want to go to the store (actually I didn't want to put on make up) to get any ingredients. So I went to Supercook.com and they have this great little trick where you type in what ingredients you have on hand and it will give you a zillion recipes that use those ingredients! I'm in awe!

So I typed in flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, baking powder, vanilla, eggs, milk, walnuts, butter, coffee, Karo syrup, oatmeal, honey, margarine, peanut butter, shortening and nutmeg. Those few ingredients scored me 1,632 recipes!

So I decided to make a Cinnamon Coffee Cake, the recipe is posted below.

I started by greasing and flouring the 9 inch pan shown below. This pan is very special to me. It belonged to my ex-husbands mother Marge. She loved to cook and bake and had lots of great recipes she would make. She passed away when our son was less than a year old and he really never got to know her. My daughter April vaguely remembers her grandmother. So even though she and I were never really close it makes me happy to know that now I'm baking things for her grandson and that eventually her granddaughter will inherit this pan. Silly I know but little things like that mean a lot to me.


I'm using the beautiful bowls my daughter gave me for Christmas last year. They are nesting bowls in every color of the rainbow and I love them for baking.

I'm using the biggest one which is a beautiful blue color. First the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and sugar.

And here I've folded in the shortening with my pastry blender until they are the size of small peas.

In a separate small bowl, beat the egg well; then stir in the milk and vanilla. Isn't this first picture beautiful? I just love the color of the egg against the blue of the bowl. It was almost too pretty to beat, but beat I did!


Then I combined the milk with the egg mixture and beat that just for a bit to incorporate.


Then you add the egg-milk mixture to the flour and mixture and stir carefully until just blended. I blended mine too well and it almost turned into glue, so just mix until blended!

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly then drizzle the top with melted butter.


In a small bowl mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.



Sprinkle on top of cake. (The butter will start to seep through, mmmmmmm!


Bake and this is what you end up with! It was really very good for being so simple to make. It's the first cake I've made that actually every bit was eaten up (we're not a big cake family).


And here are my dishes all done and my kitchen all clean again. Can you believe I dirtied all those dishes just to bake a 9 inch by 9 inch cake?


Recipe for Cinnamon Coffee Cake

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup solid shortening
* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender to the size of small peas.
In a separate small bowl, beat the egg well; then stir in the milk and vanilla.
Add the egg-milk mixture to the flour mixture all at once.
Stir carefully until just blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly.
Drizzle top with melted butter.
In a small bowl mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
Sprinkle on top of cake.

Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

I'm participating in Foodie Friday and you should all go visit Designs by Gollum for tons of other great food items! I know I'm heading right over there!