Whether served for breakfast or given as a gift, we think a good coffee cake recipe (or two) has the ability to be every baker’s secret weapon. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite coffee cake recipes.
Getting ready for a weekend brunch or looking for the perfect recipe to bake and take to a friend in need? Here’s a roundup of our favorite coffee cake recipes from the Yankee archives.
Cooking butter until it turns a rich brown color adds a nutty flavor to this addictive confection. In fact, I don’t think it’s possible to pack in more appealing elements here: buttermilk batter, warm spices, streusel topping, browned butter, and lots of apples.
“… When we cousins do get together, the host or hostess arises early to make “Aunt Ginny’s Coffee Cake” — which we think is the best sour cream coffee cake out there — for the rest of us. It’s equally good with ice-cold milk or steaming coffee.”
Made with wild Maine blueberries and a cinnamon crumb topping, this old-fashioned blueberry buckle recipe is a New England summer favorite. We prefer the flavor of the smaller wild blueberries, but regular blueberries work, too.
Cardamom buns are traditional Christmas fare for Scandinavians, which got us thinking about other ways to incorporate the warm and sweetly aromatic spice into a coffee cake. We decided to rework a classic crumb cake by leaving the cinnamon in the streusel and adding cardamom to the cake batter. An inspired combination!
Like the sour cream coffee cake, crumb cake was a Northern European invention, originally prepared with a yeast-raised dough but simplified in the 20th century with the use of chemical leaveners like baking powder. It’s generally thought of as a New York specialty, but it’s found all through New England as well.
This rhubarb coffee cake works equally well when served for breakfast, a snack, or dessert (or all three in one day). Rhubarb provides a subtle tartness, while the topping provides a great sweetness and crunchiness.
What tops your list of favorite coffee cake recipes?
As Digital Editor of New England.com, Aimee writes, manages, and promotes content for NewEngland.com and its social media channels. Before this role, she served as assistant, then associate, editor for Yankee Magazine and YankeeMagazine.com, where she was nominated for a City and Regional Magazine Association award for Best Blog. A lifelong New Englander, Aimee loves history, the New Hampshire seacoast, and a good Massachusetts South Shore bar pizza.