Classic Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe

Good morning, sunshine! Oh, fine. So we all know that coffee cake is no longer just a morning picker-upper. Would you believe that coffee cake has been around for centuries?! It’s true.

The coffee cake that we all love today evolved from ancient honey cakes. As time went on, the cake shifted towards a simple French galettes, to medieval fruitcakes, to sweet yeast rolls, to Danish cakes made with coffee, and finally ending its journey in an air tight plastic wrapped package on the shelves of grocery stores nation-wide.

This classic cinnamon coffee cake is an easy coffee cake recipe which tastes delicious! I love this recipe and my friends to too. One day I brought these cakes to an early morning meeting at school. People were half-asleep, but as soon as they smelled my hot cakes they were wide awake and piling it onto their plates!

Ingredients:

Crumb Topping:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided use
• 1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed, divided use
• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened, divided use
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cake:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour 9×13 inch pan.

Crumb Topping:

2) Combine 1 cup flour with 1 cup brown sugar, a 1/2 softened butter and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3) Mixture should have the consistency of moist sand. Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Set aside.

Cake:

4) In a large bowl, cream together the remaining 1 cup butter, remaining 3/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

5) In a separate bowl combine the remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt. Add this dry mixture to the moist ingredients a little bit at a time. Add milk and mix well. Spoon the batter into prepared 13×9-inch baking pan.

6) Sprinkle the crumb topping over the batter. Be sure the topping completely covers the batter.

7) Bake cake for 50 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn light brown.

Although, the bake time on these tasty hot cakes is kind of long… they’re definitely worth the wait! I love is classic coffee cake recipe. Cutting them warm (and eating one or two) is such a great benefit of baking this tasty coffee cake; not to mention it makes my whole kitchen smell amazing!