Cinnamon-Sugar Coffee Cake, A Vintage Recipe (2024)
If you like coffee cake, you’re going to want to try this old fashioned Cinnamon-Sugar Coffee Cake recipe. This vintage recipe is worth the effort.
Coffee cake is one of those things. It’s comforting and familiar and perfect for breakfast. This one, made from a recipe from the 1930s, has a dense crumb and an irresistible buttery cinnamon sugar topping.
No, it’s not that impossibly fluffy and almost-dessert-sweet coffee cake from the grocery store. But it doesn’t want to be. It’s a totally different coffee cake — one that stands up to the fork without squishing into oblivion and that can be eaten by hand without crumbling all over. And it’s really great with a hot, steaming cup of coffee.
It is coffee cake after all.
Making this, I wasn’t sure if the vintage sensibilities would make it a winner for us. But it was. Hugely.
I whipped it up for a brunch with friends last weekend where the cake quickly vanished. Seriously, not a trace was left behind. Good sign, right? And it was so good that I baked another just for our family.
Back to the brunch for a second. Though I adore brunch, I don’t have people over (or go out) for it nearly enough. So I was thrilled to have a little one at my house. The brunch menu was simple — bagels and lox with all the fixings, scrambled eggs, berry and pineapple fruit salad and this Cinnamon-Sugar Coffee Cake.
In the course of the conversation, I shared that this was a vintage recipe — something dug out of my great collection of early 20th-century cookery books, pamphlets and recipe cards.
This recipe comes from the third edition of All About Home Baking, published in 1936 (the original was published in 1933) by the General Foods Corporation, a now-defunct company whose products (Calumut baking powder, Post cereals, Maxwell House Coffee and General Foods International Coffees, to name a few) live on. I bought this hardcover book off eBay a while back.
My friend asked about my interest in vintage recipes, which really got me thinking about why I have been so into pre-1960s cookery. I made this conscious decision to reclaim lost cooking techniques because I feel like as the reliance on prepared, prepackage and shortcut based cooking has grown, we’ve lost some of the skill and technique that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers used in the kitchen.
To them, making a quick coffee cake for breakfast or brunch or whatever was just that. It was simple, uncomplicated and easy.
And when I find a winner — like this coffee cake — I love to share it.
All told, this recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Coffee Cake takes about 30 minutes to make — maybe 40, if you include the cooling time. And most of that time is totally hands-off (making the dough for the cake takes maybe 5 minutes).
Be warned, instead of a batter this really makes a crumbly dough. Don’t worry if it doesn’t form a ball — you just need all the ingredients to have come together before you press it into a pan with floured hands.
And don’t change a thing about the buttery cinnamon-sugar topping. It’s the best part. (Aren’t topping always the best part?)
You can do this. Dust off that cake pan this weekend and give this Cinnamon-Sugar Coffee Cake recipe a try.
Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
recipe from All About Home Baking, 1936
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
Topping:
1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake pan all over the inside with a little butter.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or two knives.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk until light and frothy.
Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir well until all combined. The dough will be somewhat stiff, but keep stirring until everything is incorporated.
Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Using floured hands, gently pat it down into one even layer.
Brush the top of the coffee cake with melted butter. Then, stir together the sugar, flour and cinnamon for the topping. Sprinkle all over the top of the coffee cake.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly. Let cool for five minutes in the pan. Then, gently loosen the sides with a butter knife. Turn out onto a plate and then turn back onto a serving plate.
The first coffee cake likely originated in Germany, specifically in Dresden. However, the Danish came up with the earliest version of eating a type of sweet bread while drinking coffee, so coffee cakes really evolved from many different cultural traditions. We do know that coffee was introduced to Europe in the 1600s.
History. American Coffee cake—also referred to as gugelhupf or Austrian German: kaffekuchen—evolved from other sweet dishes from Vienna. In the 17th century, Northern/Central Europeans are thought to have come up with the idea of eating sweet cakes while drinking coffee.
Coffee Cake is a staple in coffee shops and delis because it pairs well with coffee. It's called coffee cake because it goes well with coffee. This delightful cake is delicious on its own but even better when it's paired with a coffee drink like coffee, espresso, and lattes, or tea.
While some people confuse crumb cake for coffee cake, there's actually a pretty big difference between the two. Traditionally, coffee cake is topped with a layer of crumbly streusel, while crumb cake is essentially half crumb, half cake.
Food historians agree that the tradition of coffee cake originated in Northern Central Europe sometime in the 17th century, marrying the introduction of coffee to Europe with an already-rich history of cake and pastry-baking.
Aunt Jemima is no longer producing this product due to challenges competing with other products in local supermarkets which resulted in declining sales. Please don't deny our families and future generations the simple joy of this wonderful home baked coffee cake on a Sunday morning (or any morning!).
The world's oldest known cake, baked during the reign of Pepi II in Egypt between BCE 2251 and 2157. Alimentarium, Vevey, Switzerland. The Egyptians gave us the world's oldest known cake–and also the world's oldest Tupperware as it happens.
Coffee cake can last up to a week in the fridge, though it's worth noting that the cold could cause it to dry out, even if it's still technically good to eat. Tightly sealing the cake can help it maintain its moisture in the refrigerator, but mileage may vary.
In the U.S., anything called “coffee cake” is generally a quick bread sort of cake that has no coffee flavor to it, we just eat it with our coffee. Usually cinnamon or vanilla flavored, sometimes with nuts. In the U.K., apparently it is more often cake with coffee flavor, and coffee flavored frosting.
This is not the case with British coffee cake, which is far more similar to a traditional cake as compared to the recipe that's so beloved in America. Often referred to as coffee and walnut cake, this baked good features coffee flavoring both in the cake itself, as well as the buttercream icing used to adorn it.
It is specially made for those who love as much our lemon cakes as tiramisu. Half of it is a delicate cake with three layers of lightly soaked sponge, with vanilla flavor and two layers of lemon-flavored cream, dusted with powdered sugar.
The name “king cake” comes from the Biblical story of the three kings who bring gifts to Baby Jesus. A blend of coffee cake and cinnamon roll, king cake is usually iced in yellow, green and purple – the colors of Mardi Gras -- and is frequently packed with fruit fillings and decadent cream cheeses.
"Kaffee und kuchen" (coffee and cake) is an afternoon ritual where friends, family, or coworkers will meet for an hour or two to enjoy coffee, cake, and socializing. Shortly after coffee was introduced to Germany in 1675, coffee houses began to spring up in places like Hamburg, Bremen, and Hanover.
The first cakes were probably made in ancient Egypt. Yeast was used to making them light and fluffy. Honey was also often used as a sweetener. Nuts and spices were added for flavor and the cakes were sometimes iced with honey or syrup.
[ kaw-fee-keyk, kof-ee- ] show ipa. noun. a cake or sweetened bread, often flavored with cinnamon and made or topped with nuts, raisins, candied fruit, etc., and glazed with melted sugar, usually served with coffee.
BROWN was founded by a group of young Cambodian entrepreneurs, inspired by the great, big world and really good coffee. A new coffee culture has taken over the great cities of the world: Rome, London, Seattle, Melbourne, Singapore. Premium ingredients and unique tastes that celebrate tradition and culture.
Introduction: My name is Pres. Lawanda Wiegand, I am a inquisitive, helpful, glamorous, cheerful, open, clever, innocent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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