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Breakfast Dessert

Roll through your cinnamon cravings with a simple cake

A cinnamon roll cake is an easy way to accomplish the great flavor of homemade cinnamon rolls without all the work.

Do you have those friends in your life where you have to try several times to plan a get-together before you can actually find a date on the calendar that works?

This past weekend, the stars aligned for us to finally spend an evening with just such a pair. They were gracious enough to invite us to their home, where they had a delicious bowl of chili and fresh cornbread waiting for us.

Knowing that chili was on the menu, I started to wrack my brain earlier in the day about what kind of dessert goes with it, and my mind just kept going back to cinnamon rolls.

I mean, yeah, cinnamon rolls are a perfect compliment to a big bowl of chili, but they’re also generally pretty time consuming, and time was not on my side that afternoon.

Thank goodness I found a recipe for a cinnamon roll cake that came to my rescue instead, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

This comes from the blog “The Country Cook” by Brandie Skibinski. You can find the original post at https://www.thecountrycook.net/cinnamon-roll-cake/. I doubled the vanilla and quadrupled the cinnamon in my version.

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Cinnamon Roll Cake

A cinnamon roll cake is an easy way to accomplish the great flavor of homemade cinnamon rolls without all the work.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword brown sugar, cake, cinnamon, cinnamon roll, coffeecake, easy cinnamon roll, vanilla

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups milk I used skim
  • 1/2 cup butter melted

Filling Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 4 tablespoons cinnamon

Glaze Ingredients

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 5 tablespoons milk I used skim
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray. Set it aside.
  • For the cake, in a mixing bowl, beat the flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and milk until everything is smooth and well combined.
  • Hand stir in the butter, and then spread the batter evenly into your prepared pan.
  • For the filling, in another mixing bowl, beat together all of the filling ingredients until it forms a smooth paste.
  • Drop the cinnamon mixture by the tablespoonful onto the cake batter, and then swirl it into the batter using a knife.
  • Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • When the cake comes out of the oven, whisk the glaze ingredients until it is smooth. If you want a thicker glaze, add a little more powdered sugar. If you want it thinner, add a little more milk.
  • Pour the glaze over the cake and serve warm. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

This was very much like if a coffee cake married a cinnamon roll. The main difference is because you put the glaze on the cake while it’s still warm, it melts into the cake instead of staying visibly on top like a normal cinnamon roll. If you’d rather have that look and texture, I’d recommend letting the cake cool completely before glazing and making a bit of a thicker glaze.

I ended up making an eight-by-eight pan of this by halving the recipe. There was only going to be four of us, and I really didn’t need the leftovers in my kitchen all week, so that made it perfect.

Even better, we had an excellent meal with excellent people. Being able to spend time with friends, cinnamon rolls or not, is so, so sweet.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 11, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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It’s ‘butter’ to double check ingredients

Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They’re perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.

One of the habits my mom taught me when I was first learning to bake is to go back through a recipe before popping something into the oven.

Giving each ingredient a once-over to make sure nothing was left out is a good idea, since you inevitably realize you forgot something when the mixture has already been in the oven for several minutes.

Normally, I follow her advice. I skim through the ingredients, creating a mental checklist to make sure I didn’t mess anything up. Of course, I also tend to get in a hurry and forget from time to time.

Such was the case this weekend when I went to quickly bake a batch of donuts for some house guests before they headed out of town.

The donuts were out of the oven, cooling in the pan, when my friend opened the microwave to reveal a little bowl of melted butter that should have been mixed into the donut batter.

The good news: they were still delicious, so I’m going to share this recipe with you even though I didn’t completely follow it correctly.

This recipe comes from the blog “Baker by Nature.” You can find the original at https://bakerbynature.com/coffee-cake-donuts-with-vanilla-glaze/. I added a ton more cinnamon to the recipe and left off the vanilla glaze, because I didn’t think the donuts needed even more sugar and calories.

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Coffeecake Donuts

Coffeecake donuts come together quickly and bake in only about 10 minutes. They're perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a big glass of milk.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword baked, cinnamon, coffeecake, donuts

Ingredients

Topping Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Donut Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup sour cream I substituted non-fat plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1 egg

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a six-well donut baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • In a small bowl, cut together the topping ingredients until it’s well combined into small crumbs.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat together the flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, sour cream, butter and egg until just combined.
  • Spoon the batter into the donut pan, distributing it evenly between the wells. Now evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the the tops of each donut.
  • Bake for about 10 minutes or until the donuts spring back when you touch them lightly (mine ended up taking 12 minutes).
  • Let the donuts cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then gently remove them and serve.

These were really, really good, and I was glad I decided to skip the extra glaze. They were perfect without it.

And even though I left out the butter, they were still tasty. I’m guessing they would have been a bit moister if I would have put it in, but you could probably get away with leaving it out, too, if you wanted.

I learned yet again that it’s important to go over my ingredients list before popping something into the oven. As ever, my mom is always right, even if I did end up with some delicious donuts.

This piece first appeared in print on July 30, 2020.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

Coffee cake comes highly rec’almond’ed

Almond coffee cake is pretty to look at and delicious to eat.

I only have a few rules for choosing recipes I want to try.

First, it has to be decently easy and not need a bunch of weird kitchen implements. Second, the ingredients need to be something I can find locally and not have to order online. Third, I have to want to eat it.

I feel like that third one goes without saying, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.

This week’s recipe just barely met my criteria, because I had no idea almond paste even existed until I examined the ingredients list. I was able to find it in my local grocery store, so I’m hoping the rest of you can, too. If not, there are also other recipes online to make it yourself.

It also nearly upset my rules because the part of the recipe where you’re supposed to “spread” the batter is not an easy task. This stuff is thick and tough to spread, so I recommend dolloping the batter and filling into the pan before spreading it so you have an easier time.

The recipe’s author said she used her fingers to spread it, but I had more luck with a rubber scraper instead.

I found this recipe on the blog “Curly Girl Kitchen.” You can find the original at https://www.curlygirlkitchen.com/2013/01/almond-cream-cheese-coffee-cake.html. I doubled the almond extract and cinnamon.

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Almond Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Almond coffee cake is pretty to look at and delicious to eat.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword almond, almond paste, coffeecake, cream cheese

Ingredients

Streusel Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons cold butter
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Filling Ingredients

  • 8 ounces almond paste
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Batter Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare a 9-inch springform pan by coating it with cooking spray.
  • For the streusel, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, add the cold butter and use a pastry cutter or fork to work it in until it’s nice and crumbly and stir in the almonds. Put in the refrigerator for now.
  • For the filling, beat the almond paste, sugar and cream cheese until it’s smooth and set it aside (you’ll add the almonds later).
  • For the batter, beat the butter and sugar for about three minutes to get it light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla and almond extract until it’s well combined.
  • Beat in the sour cream.
  • Once the mixture is smooth, beat in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until everything is just combined.
  • Put half of the batter into your prepared springform pan and spread it to an even layer (it’s a thick batter, so this is easier said than done).
  • Spoon the cream cheese filling in dollops all over the batter layer and spread it out as best as you can. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of sliced almonds on top of the filling.
  • Spoon the remaining batter in dollops on top of the almonds and spread it again.
  • Bake the cake for 15 minutes.
  • Remove it from the oven and top it with the streusel and then bake for another 40 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (don’t stick it all the way down to the filling layer, since that will stay gooey even after baking).
  • Let the cake cool for about 20 minutes before removing it from the pan. Let it cool completely and then store in an airtight container if not serving right away. (I kept mine in the fridge.)

While this recipe was a bit more complicated than I often choose, it was totally worth it. The cake was beautiful, and it would be great for breakfast or dessert.

And although it stretched rules one and two, definitely fit rule three, since I managed to eat more than one slice of this cake before it was gone. I guess one out of three ain’t bad.

This piece first appeared in print on May 23, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Breakfast Dessert

‘Pecan’ make ‘berry’ good coffeecake

A cranberry-laden coffeecake is perfect for breakfast or for any occasion where cake is present—no glazes or frosting needed.

Before I get any letters or people shaking their heads at me, yes, I know I did a large swath of cranberry recipes this winter, and here I am sharing yet another one with you.

I couldn’t help myself.

If you’re like me, you can’t get enough of cranberry desserts, but for those of you who are sick and tired of those little red berries, rest assured that this coffeecake would be great with blueberries, too, so if you’d rather use fresh fruit than frozen now that spring is knocking at the door, I’d go that route.

But regardless of whether you like cranberries or not, there’s no denying that they make for a beautiful dessert. There’s a great wow factor when it comes to those bright red spots poking through.

I took this coffeecake to a gathering with family, and we devoured it.

I found this recipe on the blog “Lemon Tree Dwelling.” You can find the original at https://www.lemontreedwelling.com/cranberry-pecan-coffee-cake/. I changed up the spice mixture, doubled the vanilla and decided to skip making a glaze for this coffee cake. It’s moist and perfect without it.

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Cranberry-Pecan Coffeecake

A cranberry-laden coffeecake is perfect for breakfast or for any occasion where cake is present—no glazes or frosting needed.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Keyword coffeecake, cranberries, pecans

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons butter, divided and softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup fresh cranberries or blueberries or thawed, drained frozen berries
  • a scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup pecans coarsely chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a tube pan and set it aside.
  • Cream together the 1/2 cup butter, sugar and vanilla.
  • Beat in the eggs.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sour cream and beat until well combined.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the remaining butter, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and pecans.
  • Pour half of the batter into the tube pan and spread it out evenly. Top with half of the cranberries and half the spice mixture.
  • Spread the rest of the batter evenly into the pan and top with the remaining cranberries and spice mixture.
  • Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out dry.
  • Cool completely before removing the cake from the pan. Store in an airtight container.

I threw some extra whole pecans on the top of my coffeecake, too, to give it a prettier top.

And, yes, I probably have a cranberry addiction, but there are worse things, I suppose. I’ll try to give you more variety in my ingredients going into spring and summer, but I probably can’t make any promises.

This piece first appeared in print on March 14, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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