I love cakes that call for some sort of dairy product. The crumb comes out especially moist. My favorite chocolate birthday cake, a recipe from my bubbe, uses a cup of buttermilk. The chocolaty fudge cake I made earlier this month by Marcel Desaulniers also calls for buttermilk. The cinnamon pumpkin cake bars I made in November uses sour cream and they turn out light and fluffy and amazingly moist. The plum blueberry upside down cake by David Lebovitz that I made back in July calls for milk. The chocolate zucchini cake I made over a year ago specifies sour cream or yogurt will do. Catch my drift yet? Dairy is your friend! Well, cake's friend, anyways.
I can often guess if a cake I'm tasting has some sort of dairy in it. I'll be at a restaurant with a friend and say to Friend, "Friend, this cake is so moist! Look at the crumb on this baby!" Friend adds, "Yeah, I love it. How's it so moist?" To which I reply, "Dairy, darling. Dairy." Ok, maybe I'm dreaming, but that's how the conversation would go.
But what I'm not so good at telling is the type of dairy used. The moistness of a cake can come from any of several types of dairy. When a recipe calls for dairy, I often use yogurt, buttermilk, and sour cream interchangeably. But with a recipe like this coffee cake, where yogurt is in the title, I'm going to stick with yogurt simply because the author put so much prominence on the ingredient that I'll stick to the letter of the law.
You are really going to like this cake. I bet you can guess by now that I'm going to tell you it's moist. But it's also full of flavor, easy to make, attractive, and perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Enjoy!
Yogurt Coffee Cake
Recipe by Margaret Fox in Morning Food
Makes 1 cake that serves 12
1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda, sifted
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups white flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
Topping
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt and baking soda, and set aside.
Cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, add to the butter mixture, and blend. Quickly stir in the yogurt and soda.
Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch pan. If you are using chocolate chips, sprinkle evenly over the surface and press them lightly into batter. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle it evenly on the surface. Bake about 40 to 45 minutes, until it tests done with a toothpick.
Step-by-Step in Pictures
Mix together the yogurt and baking soda...
Cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and eggs...
Sift together the baking powder and flour, then add to the butter mixture...
The batter will be thick and sticky...
To the batter, add the baking soda/yogurt mixture, which will have puffed up from the chemical reaction...
The resulting batter will be shiny and smooth...
Spread into a greased baking pan...
Distribute the chocolate chips over the batter, then carefully press them in...
For the topping, combine the cinnamon, brown sugar, and nuts...
Here's your topping...
Sprinkle the topping over the batter...
Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven...
Look how moist!
2 comments:
I love yogurt or buttermilk in cakes. They do indeed give such luscious moistness to baked goods. In fact, I often sub yogurt for milk in muffin or cake recipes just because I more often than not have it handy in the fridge. Your coffee cake looks like the perfect thing to wake up to on New Year's Day morning. Happy Holidays, Marni!
That was SOOOOOOO good. Mine didn't exactly "pour" into the 9x13 pan, and it was more dull and lumpy than smooth and shiny, but the end result was an explosion of goodness in my mouth!
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