HOMECOOKINGCHRONICLES
Streusel Coffee Cake
• 1 cup chopped pecans or slivered
almonds
I divide my work life into two distinct
Cake
periods: the dress shirt and tie sitting at a
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
computer period, and the flour dusted apron
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
standing at an oven period.
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
I worked for twenty years as a human
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salts
resources and strategic planning profes-
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sional. I learned numerous life lessons that
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) room
temperature unsalted butter
led to my career as a baker and culinary
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
instructor.
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
The most important lesson? If you’re
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
headed to a meeting with a high likelihood
• 1 ¼ cups sour cream, room
of conflict, bring along a baked treat to
temperature
share. Nobody can get mad at you when you
• Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
arrive with baked goods in hand. That’s the
(optional)
power of baking.
Preheat oven to 350 and generously but-
Also, nobody genuinely knows what
ter a 9x13 inch baking pan.
makes a coffee cake a coffee
Make the streusel. In a
cake. My analytical minded
WHAT WE NOW bowl,
combine the sugars,
colleague, Johnny, was flum-
CALL COFFEE
moxed by this rustic treat.
flour, cinnamon, and salt.
CAKE EVOLVED Add the butter and pecans
Does it have coffee in
FROM
it? Not usually. Do you eat
and smash between your
it while drinking coffee?
fingers until the mixture
AUSTRIAN
Sometimes. Then why is it
SWEET CAKES. resembles cookie dough.
called a coffee cake? I don’t
Place the bowl into the
THOSE WERE
know, Johnny, but I do know
refrigerator.
USUALLY
I could eat it every day.
Make the cake. Sift
YEASTED,
Unfortunately, my recent
together flour, baking pow-
der, baking soda, salt, and
cholesterol test results have
UNLIKE
cinnamon. Set aside.
dashed that dream.
MODERN
In the bowl of a stand
What we now call cof-
COFFEE CAKES mixer
fee cake evolved from Aus-
fitted with the pad-
WITH BUTTER
trian sweet cakes. Those
dle attachment cream the
AND SOUR
were usually yeasted, unlike
butter and sugar on medi-
CREAM.
um-high speed for 5 min-
modern coffee cakes with
utes, until light and fluffy.
butter and sour cream. (Yes,
Add the eggs one at a time,
use both, because dry coffee
mixing well after each addition. Add the
cake tastes like sadness.)
vanilla and sour cream and mix until just
Coffee cake is quaintly charming. When
combined.
I moved to Astoria, my friend Deb brought
With the mixer on low, add the flour
a homemade coffee cake as a welcome gift.
mixture in thirds and mix just until no
It’s among the best coffee cakes I’ve had
streaks of flour are visible. Scrape down the
and made me feel at home. Bake a coffee
sides as necessary.
cake for brunch, for your new neighbor, or
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan
for that meeting you’re dreading.
and spread evenly. Break the streusel into
Streusel Coffee Cake
large crumbs and sprinkle over cake. Bake
Adapted from Cheryl Day, Serves 12
for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick
Streusel
inserted into the center of the cake comes
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
out clean. Let cool before serving and, if
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
you’d like, dust with confectioner’s sugar.
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Brian Medford is the owner of Idlewild
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Biscuits and Bakes in Astoria. He teaches
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
cooking classes at The Pantry in Seattle.
• 6 tablespoons room temperature
Contact him at blmedford@gmail.com.
unsalted butter
BY BRIAN MEDFORD
Brian Medford
Austrian-style Streusel Coffee Cake.
16 // COASTWEEKEND.COM