I'll Have Cake With My Coffee, Thank You Very Much

(above) Yogurt Streusel Coffee Cake with a Cinnamon Swirl

If there's one thing that this blog has taught me, its that its ok to take risks. I have trust issues when it comes to recipes. I've had my fair share of unrisen bread doughs and tough pie crusts to realize that things don't always work out. However, this recipe is fool proof.

I love this recipe simply because of its flexibility. I ran short of yogurt and subbed the rest with softened cream cheese mixed with milk. The cake still turned out fine. I was worried that the batter was too thick. The cake turned out fine. I didn't follow the original recipe and added a cinnamon swirl. The cake turned out fine. With all the fruitless worries and paranoia came a wonderful cake. This coffee cake (named not because it contains coffee, but rather because it is best when eaten alongside a cup of coffee) has a streusel crumb topping, which is probably my most favorite part of the entire cake. I forgot to swirl the cinnamon into the cake batter, resulting in not so much of a cinnamon swirl as a line. However, next time I'll be sure to swirl it using a chopstick.

(above) Left to right: Flour mixture, strusuel topping, cinnamon swirl filling

(above) Half of the batter is spread in an 8x8 pan. The batter will be thick, but that's ok.

(above) The cinnamon mixture is then spread on. Unlike what I did, please swirl the batter once the rest of the batter is poured on.

(above) The whole thing is topped with strusuel.

Yogurt Streusel Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Swirl

Makes one 8x8 or 9x9 cake

Ingredients

Cake
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Swirl

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter; melted

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the yogurt and vanilla; stir to combine. in a separate bowl, sift together the flour, soda, baking powder, and slat. Add to the butter mixture and mix well.
2. To make the cinnamon mixture, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. To make the streusel, mix the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter until all the ingredients are combined and damp.
   Put half the cake batter in the pan. Spread this with half with the cinnamon mixture. Add the rest of the cake batter, and swirl the the cake with a chopstick. Then sprinkle the streusel on top. Bake the coffee cake for 40 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a rack to cool further.

Adapted from "Yogurt Streusel Coffee Cake" in the Stonyfarm Yogurt Cookbook. The original recipe can be found here.