Quick Coffee Cake

I'm getting better, slowly but surely. Thankfully, the sore throat is gone, but now comes the stuffiness and congestion. But as I said, I'm slowly pulling through, and the sickness wasn't enough to keep me out of the kitchen. I baked this up the other day when I got a craving for it for breakfast. (And made sure to wash my hands multiple times, of course.) This coffee cake is super great, and really lives up to its title "Quick." I looked for a coffee cake recipe a long time ago, but all the recipes I found included yeast or sour cream, which are two things I never have on hand. But finally I came across this recipe, found that it was composed of ingredients that are always on hand, made a couple of changes based on reviews, and voila! I found my go-to coffee cake recipe.

I find that a lot of store bought coffee cakes are quite tough, but this cake is nice and moist and soft. The cake itself is not too sweet, so it's a great base for the sweet and buttery brown sugar cinnamon topping. Usually when I make this cake, the topping melts into the cake a little bit and doesn't look too attractive, but this time it stayed in a nice and even layer without sinking in. I guess it's just the luck of the draw. Either that or it somehow knew that I would be taking its picture this time, ha ha. If you're in need of a quick breakfast, this cake is prepared and baked up in basically the same amount of time muffins are made and baked. Or, if you want, you could probably even make coffee cake muffins out of this!

Quick Coffee Cake (adapted from Allrecipes)
Makes 1 8x8 or 9x9 inch cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• slightly rounded 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
  
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 or 9 inch square pan. (I used 8 inch...it'll produce a thicker cake.)
2. In a large bowl, mix together the 1 1/2 cups of flour, baking powder, white sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the butter is the size of peas. (You can also do this with a stand mixer or a food processor for ease. I always use my stand mixer and the butter is incorporated in no time.)
3. In a separate, small bowl, mix together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the flour and butter mixture all at once. Blend just until combined. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, and cinnamon until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the cake.
5. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (If you're using an 8 inch pan, start checking at 20 minutes. If you're using a 9 inch, start checking at 15.)