Martha Monday--Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Remember that coffee cake recipe I mentioned last week--the one I hoped would get me through the next few weeks of winter?  I made it this weekend, and while it didn't go off without a hitch, it did turn out really well. 

The recipe is Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake, and it can be found in the March 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living (page 78).  The topping calls for cold butter to be mixed with flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.  I can honestly tell you that when a recipe calls for the mixing of cold butter with just about anything else, I throw it in the food processor.  It always turns out fine.

See what I mean?  It looks like sand...brown sugary buttery sand.  Which is exactly the texture you want for this coffee cake topping.  Yum!

The recipe clearly states that this coffee cake should be baked in a 9-inch tube pan with a removable bottom.  I don't own such a pan.  I had made the batter, the streusel filling and the topping when I finally acknowledged that all this stuff would need to go into some kind of pan.  I then froze in my kitchen for about five minutes staring at this mess and trying to figure out what to do. 

What was more important:  to have a tube pan or to have a pan with a removable bottom?  I decided the removable bottom aspect of the baking dish was most important, so I lined my spring form pan with foil and gave it a wax paper bottom. 

As with any recipes that calls for batter, a filling and more batter, getting everything spread around without too much intermixing of the layers was difficult.  It did work out though.  Note:  I made and assembled everything and put it in the fridge overnight, and baked it the next morning. 

Because the coffee cake was not baked in the specific 9-inch tube pan with a removable bottom, it took a really long time to bake and the outside edge got a bit overdone.  Still, this was a really good coffee cake. 

It is a solid recipe that could very well carry me through the next few weeks of winter while I pour over gardening books and plans.  I can see how this coffee cake would have turned out better in the pan the recipe clearly calls for. 

And to that I say:  Martha, I'm going to need a 9-inch tube pan with a removable bottom.  Pronto!