Coffee Cake

I looove coffee cake. Too bad I dropped this one after only a few pieces were consumed. Oh well, probably better off without the calories. From the Holiday Baking edition of the Cooks Illustrated Magazine, page 13. Don't be tempted to substitute all purpose flour for cake flour, or it will be too dry. If you don't have buttermilk handy, you can use an equal amount of plain, low fat yogurt.

Crumb Topping
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
1 and 3/4 cup cake flour

Cake
1 and 1/4 cake flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into 6 pieces
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup buttermilk

Topping:
Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt and melted butter in a medium bowl. Add flour and stir until mixed. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Cake:
Preheat oven to 325. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and spray with non stick cooking spray. If you are confused, look at the picture below. This is because of the topping - you're not going to be able to turn it over to get it out of the pan, so this allows you to just lift it out.

In a standing mixer, mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt on low speed to combine. Add the butter one piece at a time and continue beating until the mixture resembles moist crumbles, or when it looks like this:


Add egg, yolk, vanilla and buttermilk. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrap down sides if necessary and beat a little more.

Transfer mixture to baking pan and cover with the crumb topping. Bake until crumbs are golden, and test with a knife/skewer in the center of the cake to make sure it is done. The final product, still in the pan:

Now all you have to do to get out of the pan is to lift the sides of the paper! I would keep the paper under it though...coffee cake can be messy to cut!!