Monday, January 11, 2010

Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake

This week's Heavenly Cake Baker choice was Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake. It's a lovely cake that was easy to make. The most difficult thing was finding Muscavdo sugar, which was surprising because there are many grocery stores and specialty markets in my city. I located two sources and chose the closest; a health food store with Muscavado on sale vs an Italian market that I can get lost in for hours. The lesson of the day was beware of muscavado on sale. It resembled a brick. Microwaved with a bit of water softened it enough for the food processor to pulverize it back into a crumbly state. Honestly, I nearly resorted to wacking it with a hammer.

A quick trip to the grocery store for bleached flour turned up a surprise find, a cute NordicWare six cup bundt pan, on sale no less! I figured it was destiny. Instead of baking the extra batter into cupcakes, I made a miniature dolly cake.

The one thing I am irritated about is the uneven crust coloring. I never know how much non stick flour spray to use and the bubbles wreak havoc.

Sadly, I do have a confession to make. My habit of using dried spaghetti instead of toothpicks or an actual cake tester has come to an end. This cake attacked the unsuspecting pasta and two pieces broke off. Eating it requires a warning lest the pieces impale an unsuspecting guest. As compensation, there is a prize for whoever finds them.

Judging by how fast this cake is disappearing, it seems to be a new favorite.






8 comments:

  1. Vicki! Your bundt cake looks great! I laughed at your comment to be beware of the sugar on sale! It's so hilarious! LOL! I didn't even know you can microwave it back to crumbly state! I thought it would be melted when microwave it? No? :)

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  2. I can empathize with you on the rock hard Muscavado - and mine wasn't even on sale!!

    Gorgeous looking cake. And I am very jealous that you can pop to the shop to buy bleached flour AND Nordicware on sale!

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  3. Your cake looks great, Vicki. Nice crumb too. This cake will have to go on my todo list for next time.

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  4. Faithy-Ya, it looked a little odd, the water melted a layer on top but after hacking the block into pieces the food processer could handle, it whipped back to normalacy. The only thing I wasn't certain about was keeping the extra sugar for future use. It had great consistency but was unsure if the water content would matter in another recipe. I tossed it.

    Nicola-This one grocery market is an anomaly. And I confess a store I only run to in a pinch.
    It has my new found respect!

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  5. Love it - chuckled at the part about your spaghetti impaling an unsuspecting guest. ;)

    I recently read about a person who sprays their bundt pans, then turns them upside down over a paper towel to allow the excess spray to drip out. Maybe that would help you (?).

    :)
    ButterYum

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  6. ButterYum-Thanks,I'll give it a try!

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  7. oh, I laughed about your Muscovado woes--I actually have whacked the dry bricks with a hammer to break them up! The dryness of the sugar hasn't seemed to make a difference in the final cakes, at least not to my palate. The flavor the sugar brings, even after being whacked with a hammer, keeps me using it time after time. (and whacking things with a hammer is fun!)

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  8. My muscovado sugar wasn't yet to the brick stage, but was working on it--there were all these little hard nodules that I had to break up with my fingers. Muscovado, the temperamental sugar!

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