The Student Chef – ‘Coffee Cake’

As your first couple weeks of classes move forward, so too does another recipe! The days
are getting colder, so let’s grab some ingredients, and head into the kitchen to bake some
soft and cinnamon-y coffee cake. As a kid I always thought coffee cake was meant to be
coffee flavoured, but a surprise to us all, it’s called that because it’s meant to be served with
a cup of coffee. I suppose it makes sense, and that concept means I think this recipe is
perfectly fitting for the season, because what doesn’t scream autumn more than a steaming
cup of coffee, an icy cold morning, and the scent of cinnamon? Maybe a pumpkin spice latte,
but those have never been my thing.

September through early December are always the worst months temperature wise in this
province I swear. It’s my favourite season, but cold mornings and hot afternoons do nothing
for how I’d like to dress. It makes me crave sweet baked goods more though, so here’s a
recipe for coffee cake; follow up to what I’d said before, when I was trial running this recipe I
decided to just try adding some coffee to the batter and it turned out really good; I used
Lavazza’s “Crema e gusto” coffee, but whatever you have on hand will work. Or you could
sub it for milk, if you’re looking for something more traditional. You do you!

Ingredients
(For the cake)
1 egg
1⁄4 cup of oil (vegetable or canola)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3⁄4 cup of white sugar
1⁄2 cup of brewed coffee
1 1⁄2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
sprinkle of salt

(For the topping)
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 cup brown of sugar
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of flour

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Beat your egg with milk, sugar, salt and vanilla until well
   combined. Set aside.
2. In another bowl (or on top of the wet ingredients if you don’t want to dirty another dish),
   combine the flour and baking soda. Mix into the wet gradually until well combined.
3. Pour the batter into a well greased baking dish or a casserole dish. Cut the topping
   ingredients together, then sprinkle over the top of the batter.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, and allow to cool in pan before cutting into squares.