MINI-SERIES: Twelve Recipes of Christmas - Recipe 2:
Onto recipe two of my crazy desire to attempt making 12 recipes for the holiday season. I think I failed to mention in my last post that another reason for trying to make all these recipes also stems from the fact that our family cookbook has A LOT of dessert recipes! My aunt recently has been trying some healthier food alternatives, including giving up or limiting gluten - and I'm sorry to say that gluten and these "old school" recipes are clearly enemies. That and the amount of sugar my husband and I have and will consume due to these... let's just say we took one (or several) pounds for the team!
Autumn Breakfast Cake - not quite sure how this recipe got the name however it reminded me of a coffee cake. With the limited information (aka only the recipe) I can only assume the "autumn" piece was due to the cinnamon topping which creates that autumn spice notes and the cake itself is especially delicious served with a hot beverage, whether it be cocoa, coffee, or Hot Toddy!
I was excited that this recipe was pretty straight forward (as several of the recipes in this mini-series will be), it even included a normal size measurement for a baking container, and the instructions made sense. I was excited to be able to whip up this cake with ease!
First, as with most cakes, you blend the Crisco (shortening), sugar, and egg until fluffy.
Can we digress momentarily for discussion about adjectives? According to Webster "fluffy" means a) covered with or resembling fluff; b) being light and soft or airy. Immediately when I thought of "fluffy" I'm thinking puffy fluffy like egg whites would get - so again for this particular step (as in the last recipe) I had to guess what "fluffy" exactly meant. For me it was until all the ingredients were combined in a soft and a well mixed creamy consistency. Fluffy is meant to describe something else - not this! Okay, we can continue -
Next step was to stir in the milk alternately with dry ingredients and beat until smooth. (There - smooth - an appropriate adjective for the directive we are attempting to achieve!)
Once the batter was mixed together and smooth it was time to jump ship and "pour" (another word I am coming to despise when referring to baking or batters) into an 8" x 8" x 2" pan that has been rubbed with Crisco (aka greased). Check out the measurements! I was impressed with the specificity and luckily, I had my great-grandma's 8" x 8" x 2" baking pan that was ready for the job.
I made this recipe on December 22nd. I was about to type out that I am not sure why I didn't have a picture of me "pouring" the cake mix into the pan until I remembered... THE BATTER IS NOT POUR-ABLE! I don't even care if pourable isn't a word - it is a Gidget word to describe this madness. It is a super thick viscous batter that does not lend itself to liquidity movement of pouring into anything. So I had to use both hands (and I think even the assistance of my husband to hold the bowl) to scrape the mix into the greased pan, ensuring to get all sides of the bowl down as well. It didn't even really nestle itself naturally into the pan, I had to use my spatula to coax it enough to spread to all sides evenly. That's okay, though! It made it into the pan and that's what we needed.
Before baking I needed to make the topping. I melted a 1/2 cube of butter (1/2 stick) in a bowl. The recipe called for "brown sugar" but my husband and I had coconut sugar in our house instead of brown sugar, so we used that instead. The coconut sugar is a little healthier than the brown sugar but has the same sweet molasses taste that one identifies with brown sugar.
To the coconut sugar and melted butter I added the1 Tablespoon of cinnamon and mixed it well. Then I had to "spread over coffee cake" - AHA! See!? This IS a coffee cake - so why not just call it "Autumn Coffee Cake"? Inquiring minds would like to know!
Now.. spreading the topping over the coffee cake. The recipe makes it sound so simple - the words clearly state to "spread over coffee cake". But this was an oddly difficult task to accomplish.
The "topping" mixture was also pretty thick and when put on top of the viscid batter it was sort of a gloopy mess. I did my best to carefully spread the topping around.
The rubber spatula was useless for me during this process because the tacky concoction just wanted to adhere and collect onto the spatula. The fork seemed to be a good tool, but then I was doing my best to also attack the task with precision and utmost focus. I mean, it doesn't say to "swirl the topping into the cake" so again - difficult task; slowly but surely I finally had the topping "spread" over the cake.
If parts were uneven or should some of the topping penetrate into the cake mix - well, I am going to assume it was intended to do so as I found no other conceivable method!
Finally the most simple part - put it in a 350 degree oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. After about 10 minutes your house will begin to smell decadent and fragrant with the warmth of cinnamon wafting from the oven. Your mouth will water. You have been warned.
The cake is most definitely a coffee type "crumble" cake, if you will. At first I was concerned that I had over baked the cake because it seemed dry. But once you take a bite of this succulent and inviting cake, it seems well balanced with the topping.
Also, as I've mentioned - it is paired best with a hot beverage, which just takes the cake to a whole new level of delicacy. I really hope you try this recipe - this is another one that I will have especially marked to use when I have guests over for brunch. It will be great for any holiday morning spread, whether it be Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.
Twoje zdrowie! Szczęśliwe jedzenie!
NEXT EPISODE - MINI SERIES CONT.: Twelve Recipes of Christmas #3 "Grammy's Dinner"
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ORIGINAL RECIPE
AUTUMN BREAKFAST CAKE
Ingredients:
1/3 cup Crisco 1 egg
1/2 cup sugar 2/3 cup milk
3 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
Blend Crisco, sugar and egg until fluffy. Stir in milk, alternately with dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Pour into a 8" x 8" x 2" pan which has been rubbed with crisco.
Topping: Melt 1/2 cube of butter. Stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Mix well and spread over coffee cake. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
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SCRAPPY GIDGET'S VERSION OF AUTUMN BREAKFAST CAKE
[Potential Name revision: Autumn Coffee Cake]
Ingredients:
For Cake:
1/3 cup Crisco 1 egg 1/2 cup sugar 3 tsp Baking Powder 2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt 2 cups flour
For Topping:
1/2 cube of butter, melted (4 Tbs. or 1/4 cup melted butter)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8" x 8" x 2" baking pan and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the crisco, egg, and sugar for the cake mix. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. To the egg mixture, begin alternately adding the dry ingredients and the milk, beating together between additions. Once all together, continue to beat until the mixture is smooth. Should be consistency of a thick batter. Scrape the mixture into the greased baking pan. For the topping, stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon into the melted butter until it makes a paste. Carefully spoon the mixture over the cake, carefully spreading the topping over the batter until the cake is mostly covered. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Let cool slightly and serve with a warm beverage.
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