Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake

This recipe was listed under B for breakfast. 

Who doesn't love coffee cake? When I found this in the recipe box I knew I had to make it. The recipe is another newspaper clipping that my mother never tried baking. Most people keep all the ingredients needed for this recipe in their kitchen. Although there isn't any coffee in the cake itself it sure goes well with a nice hot cup of coffee. I've never made a coffee cake before so this should be fun! 

The original:

Coffee Cake

½ Cup shortening

½ Cup sugar

2 Eggs

1 & ½ Cups sifted flour

¾ Teaspoon salt

2 Teaspoons baking powder

2/3 Cup milk

1/3 Cup instant cocoa

3 Tablespoons butter

1.      Cream shortening, sugar and eggs until light colored and fluffy. Sift

together dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk,

beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

2.      Put 1/3 cup batter into small bowl; add 1/3 cup instant cocoa. Mix well.

3.      Spoon half of batter into well-greased 6 & ½ cup ring mold. By spoonful,

put chocolate mixture over batter. Dot with butter or margarine. Put

remaining batter over this. Smooth top and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40

minutes. Let cool.

4.      Remove from pan. Sprinkle powdered sugar over top. Serve warm or

cold.

Before starting the recipe you'll need to set your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 6 & 1/2 cup ring mold. I used a bundt pan and was very please with the size. 

The first step is to cream the shortening ( I used Crisco), sugar and the eggs together. The batter should be fluffy and have a light yellow color  like this: 

The next step is to combine all of the dry ingredients except the cocoa into a separate bowl. You can put the flour, salt, and baking powder in a sifter or just use a fine colander to be sure there aren't any large clumps. 

Once the dry ingredients are sifted together you can start to add it to the egg mixture. Start by adding a bit of the dry ingredients and mixing until it is incorporated and then add some of the  milk. Keep alternating between the milk and the dry ingredients until all you have left is a little bit of the dry ingredients. 

Be sure that all of the milk and all of the dry ingredients are incorporated into the egg mixture. The final product should look light and fluffy like this:

Next you need to take 1/3 cup of the batter and put it in a separate mixing bowl with the 1/3 cup of cocoa powder. The mixture will be a little dry, but try to incorporate the batter and powder as much as possible. 

Once the chocolate mixture has been made you can add about 1/2 of the original batter to the greased pan. 

The next step is to drop the chocolate mixture on top of the regular batter by spoonfuls. This will be a bit of a messy step, but don't worry about how it looks since we'll be covering it up later. 

Once all of the chocolate mixture has been placed on top of the coffee cake batter you can add the butter (or margarine). I used 3 Tbs of unsalted sweet cream butter that I cut into rectangular pieces. Drop the pieces on top of the chocolate mixture. 

When all of the butter (or margarine) is in the pan you can add the remaining half of the original batter on top. Be sure to smooth out the batter with a spatula to ensure even cooking. 

When the batter is as smooth as you'd like it you can go ahead and put it in your preheated oven. Mine cooked for exactly 35 minutes so be sure to keep an eye on it. You can confirm the coffee cake has finished cooking by sticking a tooth pick in the middle of the cake and removing it. If the tooth pick comes out clean then it is ready to cool. If it's still a little wet and doughy then leave it in for another 5 minutes. 

Go ahead and let the coffee cake cool on a cooling rack. Once it's cooled completely you can turn over the pan and it should come out pretty easily. Transfer the cake to a plate or serving platter and sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar. I used about a tablespoon of sugar on top. 

You should be able to see the small line of chocolate throughout the cake. The cake should have a bit of a crunchy layer and should be light and fluffy on the inside. 

Yum!! Don't hesitate to make yourself a fresh cup of coffee and dive right in! I gave this recipe a 5 out of 5 on the yummy scale! 

This is one of the best recipes to come from my mother's recipe box. Although I'm not sure of the origin of the recipe, I am sure you will like it too. You can always change or add things to the batter for a variety of flavor. Some ingredients to try would be any kind of nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, brown sugar and you could even try fresh fruit. This is a great breakfast or dessert item. 

Start baking!!