Cinnamon Coffee Cake

When I happened upon this recipe, I hadn't made a coffee cake in years. They always seemed a little tasteless and disappointing. And there were so many better options. Like Morning Glory Muffins or Brown Sugar and Spice Banana Bread or Cornmeal Blueberry Scones. But a volunteer signup requested coffee cake, so I went searching. The first few recipes I tried were ... a little tasteless and disappointing. Then I found this King Arthur Flour gem; it was anything but boring. My version cuts back on the streusel and the sugar. It's the moistness of the cake and the layer of cinnamon sugar swirled into the batter that make it a keeper.

Ingredients

Streusel topping

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

Cinnamon sugar filling

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Cake

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 9x13 pan.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together dry streusel ingredients. Add melted butter and stir until well-combined. Set aside.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together filling ingredients. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat together butter, salt, sugars, and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
5. In a small bowl, stir together yogurt and milk. In another, stir together baking powder and flour. Then alternate, adding first milk mixture and then flour mixture to the batter bowl until all is well-mixed. Make several stirs from the bottom to ensure that dry ingredients are mixed in well.
6. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Shake filling evenly across the batter. Spread remaining batter on top of filling. Afterward, take a butter knife to even the batter out, careful not to disturb the layer of filling.
7. Top cake with streusel crumble.
8. Bake cake until brown on the edges and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 55-60 minutes. Remove cake from oven to cool for 20 minutes or so. Cut and serve straight from pan. Keeps well for 2-3 days if tightly covered. Can be frozen and thawed at room temperature.