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!

While the flavor is simply plain, it gives you so many options as to what to use for topping. Want a cherry cheesecake? Try this recipe with a can of cherry topping (better yet, some fresh cherries!)

Maybe chocolate cheesecake is more “your speed”. This recipe with a hot fudge glaze or sauce is a great addition. Experiment with it. Have fun, bake limitlessly, and love every inch of this simple, simple cheesecake recipe!

Yield: 8 slices

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 prepared graham cracker pie crust

Topping Ideas

• 1/2 cup sour cream (mixed with 2 tbsp sugar)
• 1 cup cherry pie filling
• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• prepared Jello gelatin
• a thin chocolate sauce

Directions

1) Mix cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and eggs.

2) Pour into premade pie crust.

3) Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until a 3 inch circle in center jiggles when you “give it a shake”.

4) Cool 3 hours or overnight.

5) Serve with desired topping…enjoy!

My personal favorite topping is a drizzle of chocolate sauce with some freshly sliced strawberries atop this delicious cheesecake. This recipe is perfect for any occasion where a cheesecake is needed in a short amount of time or when ingredients are running low… but cheesecake cravings are running high.

Any time, any day, any reason, any occasion, any slice, any way—it’s a yes to this simple cheesecake recipe. Give it a try for yourself.

The trick is that this recipe is basically a banana cheesecake. The banana split part comes in the topping. What an overflow of toppings…but how tasty!

I’m sure you’re just dying to try this recipe out, just as I was, so why wait any longer. Go ahead… get started now.

Yield: 16 servings

Ingredients:

Crust:

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 cup packaged chocolate cookie crumbs (such as Oreo)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted

Filling:

• 4 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups banana; mashed and ripe
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs

Toppings:

• 1/3 cup canned crushed pineapple in juice, drained
• 1/3 cup strawberry sundae syrup
• 1/3 cup chocolate syrup
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
• 16 maraschino cherries, drained

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325°.

2) To prepare crust, combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl; toss with a fork until moist. Press into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray.

3) To prepare filling, beat cheeses and sour cream at high speed of a mixer until smooth. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar, banana, flour, and vanilla; beat well. Add eggs, 1 at a time; beat well after each addition.

4) Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan; bake at 325° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until almost set. Cheesecake is done when the center barely moves when pan is touched. Remove cheesecake from oven; run a knife around outside edge.

5) Cool cheesecake to room temperature. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours. Top each serving with 1 teaspoon pineapple, 1 teaspoon strawberry syrup, 1 teaspoon chocolate syrup, 3/4 teaspoon pecans, and 1 cherry.

Yum! This delicious (yet unique) cheesecake recipe showcases all the delicious flavors a classic banana split in a new and exciting way. Your friends will be so shocked to see the cheesecake you made them and everyone will be just dying to know the recipe! It can be our little secret!