Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

When the kids were little, we'd take them to the shopping mall when it was time to upgrade the toy box. They would be sooo excited to go into the Toys R Us store; their eyes would be the size of quarters as we walked up and down the aisles looking for the perfect new toy. When we finally helped them make the final decision and got through the checkout line, it was time for a snack. It was always a tough call between a big Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookie or a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cone.

That Mrs. Fields sure made good cookies! She branched out after a good while in the malls and published a couple good dessert cookbooks - chock full of the most over-the-top desserts!  My daughter gave me a copy of her Great American Desserts one year for Christmas and I periodically pull it down off the shelf when I want to make a totally decadent baked treat ... like today.

I'm baking for the church folk this week, so I have free rein to make the best and most buttery coffee cake on the planet. This coffee cake fits the bill ... a buttery moist cake, a butter and sugar and cinnamon swirl, and a buttery nut-filled streusel topping. Warm, with a cup of coffee, this cake is a little slice of heaven.

The sugar and cinnamon get swirled through the batter and then the streusel is scattered atop ... the streusel is REALLY tasty. I had no problem sampling the goods ...

All that streusel has sunk into the cake, as it baked. Remind me to get one of the center pieces! Can't wait!

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

a recipe from Debbi Fields’ Great American Desserts

Cake Ingredients:

16 tbsp. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
Pinch salt
½ c. sour cream

Syrup Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter, melted

3 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Streusel Ingredients:

1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. chopped pecans

Making the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 ° F and butter a 10 –inch tube pan or a 9 – inch square springform pan. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment or waxed paper and lightly butter the paper also. Set aside.
2. Make the syrup by combining the ingredients in a small bowl … set aside.
3. Make the streusel by mixing the brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon in a food processor bowl … pulse to combine without breaking the nuts up too much. Add the tbsp. lumps of cold butter and pulse to make a crumbly streusel mixture. Set aside.
4. Make the cake batter by placing the butter and sugar in a deep mixing bowl. Whip for about 5 minutes at medium speed until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy.
5. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds after each egg is added.
6. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and add one third to the batter, mixing for about one minute. Then, add ½ od the sour cream measure and mix again for about a minute. Repeat with the flour-sour cream-flour procedure until the  batter is smooth and light.
7. Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Drizzle the syrup over the top and draw a skewer or thin sharp knife through the batter to let the syrup swirl though the batter.
8. Top with the streusel mixture and bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted at the center of the cake comes clean.
9. Cool for ten minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a plate, then reverse the turn to keep the streusel on top OR (and this is why I prefer a spring form pan), remove the sides of the springform, and gently slide the cake onto a pretty serving platter.
10. Serve warm or at room temperature with a good strong coffee.