Hazelnut marble coffee cake

When I go to the big bookstore (you know the one since there are so few nowadays), I'm always drawn to the magazine racks and to the cooking magazines.  These days, aside from the usual monthly issues, there are all these special edition magazines featuring everything from seasonal cooking/baking to one-pot meals.  I'll find myself flipping through these mini cookbooks and with all the great photography, everything looks delicious.  Every once in a while though, for whatever reasons, something especially calls out to me.  This hazelnut marble coffee cake did that the other day and I just wanted to make it. 

I wasn't really sure what it was that made me want to make this little cake so much.  I supposed we simply like what we like, and this cake has a lot of the characteristics that I like in a cake.  I'm a big fan of basic cakes that don't need frosting; I love hazelnuts and anything with chocolate (the duo/marbled layers really appealed to me).  I've also realized that old-fashioned coffee cakes need to make a serious come back and that crumb toppings are something to swoon over.  

As it turns out, this was also something of a light recipe - another thing that appealed to me because ideally, I'm looking for tasty, balanced, treats I can enjoy everyday.  But I have to admit I started second-guessing my decision to try this out when I looked deeper...I started thinking: "Really?  Just 1 tablespoon of butter (never mind that the original recipe uses vegetable oil spread) for the crumb topping?  Light sour cream, 7 tablespoons of water and just 3 tablespoons of canola oil in the cake?" Is that going to taste good?

I decided to go for it and give it a try.  The recipe left some room for interpretation as far as using other types of flours and even sugar substitutes.  I stuck with the framework of the recipe but used a tablespoon of butter (as opposed to oil spread) for the topping, an actual egg (instead of egg product, which I've never bought) in the cake, and I choose to substitute half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour.  A little extra vanilla extract worked out well, too.

I really wasn't sure this coffee cake would taste as appealing as it looked in the magazine but the good news is it was very good!  The cake is moist and tender, and you can taste the cocoa of the top layer. That really makes a difference, adding some dimension and giving you the feeling that you're eating some hybrid between coffee cake and a marble loaf or light pound cake.  Though the cake itself isn't very flavorful, it goes nicely with the strong flavor of the crumb topping.

The hazelnuts in the topping packs a punch of flavor.  If you're not a fan of hazelnut, I see no reason not to substitute with something else like walnuts or almonds.  For me, the hazelnuts work really well with the cocoa layer and gives you a ton of flavor in the topping.  And speaking of the crumb topping, I found that just one tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar does get the job done here! If you are feeling generous (or a little greedy), I wouldn't discourage anyone from making a bit more topping to go on top of this coffee cake.  Thanks to those flavorful, toasted hazelnuts though, I think it works just as it is.

All you need is a cup of coffee...

An old-fashioned coffee cake

During the flux of the few weeks surrounding Hurricane Sandy, the idea of making something old-fashioned (which I associate with steady, dependable, and simpler times) appealed to me.  While pretty much stranded at home during the early days after the storm, I spent time re-reading some of my cookbooks.  With no TV or Internet connection (other than our cellphones), my subscription of cooking magazines and old books provided entertainment.  The benefit of revisiting those cookbooks is that I found a bunch of recipes I want to try, or have already tried since.

I adapted this coffee cake recipe slightly from a cookbook given to me recently by a friend (thank you, girl!).  It’s a breakfast book, no pictures but recipe after recipe of anything you might consider for your first meal of the day.  When I was looking through it, I kept going back to the coffee cake.  It reminded me of those first cooking classes I took back in high school (or was it junior high school?).  I remember the first things we learned to make in that big classroom kitchen were coffee cake and zucchini bread, both of which were surprisingly good to my green taste buds. 

As you probably know, coffee cake has nothing to do with coffee in the sense of being an ingredient or flavor in the cake.  It’s a basic cake intended to be served alongside a cup of coffee.  Most of the time, it has a crumb topping on it and because of that, it’s also called crumb cake.  I like the sound of coffee cake better but I have to say the crumb topping is the vital component to the coffee cake.

This particular coffee cake is a pretty basic one, flavored mainly with cinnamon and nutmeg – rather appropriate for this time of year, I think.  But the thing is I only enjoy cinnamon and nutmeg (and other spices like ginger and cloves) in careful moderation.  The recipe was more generous than I wanted to be with the spices so on personal preference, I dialed it down a bit.  Luckily, it turned out quite well, with enough presence but without being overpowering. 

I like that this coffee cake is nice and moist thanks to the use of oil as opposed to butter, and it keeps well for several days tightly wrapped.  The crumb topping is made with chopped walnuts mixed together with some flour and cinnamon-sugar.  It provides a nice bit of crunch and extra sweetness against the soft, moist cake.

Coffee cake may not be something I'd crave often but it was a nice old-school treat that I really enjoyed making and eating.  There’s something nostalgic about it.

So let's bring back the coffee cake once in a while!  Brew a pot of coffee and have a good sit-down with someone you enjoy spending time with.  Or make one and wrap a few pieces up (it travels quite well) for someone you know who’d appreciate a little treat to go with his/her daily cup of joe.  It's a great make-ahead also, if you are thinking about food for that busy Christmas morning.  Make this the day before and it needs nothing more than knife and fork the next day.  Oh, and coffee, of course...