Our good friends had us over for dinner the other Sunday after church. I had about 1.5 hours to think of and make something sweet for dessert. Cake wouldn’t work since I’d have to make it look all pretty. Same with cupcakes. Cookies would take me too long to decide on a recipe, then bake each sheet. Brownies take forever to cool. Pie crust is still a bit scary to me so that was out of the question.Yep, I’m good at making excuses. Another friend of ours is in love with coffee cake and we had recently devoured some that was quite tasty. Thankfully, this popped into my head when I was feeling as though I’d eliminated everything other option.
My mom used to make us coffee cake on Sunday mornings as we were all scrambling to make it out the door to church on time. I can’t recall ever making it on my own, however. Mom made it with Bisquik, which was delightful, but I went the from-scratch route with buttermilk I was dying to use. Oh how I love buttermilk in baked goods! It’s too bad the actual smell of buttermilk makes me want to gag. Oh well, sacrifices….
Anyway, I went to Allrecipes once again and found a wonderful recipe that inspired me. The crumb had a nice, gooey texture and the entire cake was moist and flavorful. My main fear of coffee cake is dryness, and this helped me get over that worry. If you would like to make the cake in a 9 x 13-inch pan, just double the recipe.
Buttermilk Coffee Cake
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (any nuts work, or none at all)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Batter:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Spread half of the batter into a greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Sprinkle with half of the crumb mixture. Carefully spread with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.