The Very Adaptable Coffee Cake
This coffee cake is going to try and do the impossible. It’s going to try to be the warm, hearty coffee cake recipe you always want because it always suits the contents of your kitchen. There is a lot to know about substitutions and I’ll be writing about them in the future but for now, I’d really like to get this, my first adaptable online so I can stop editing around on it and get on with writing about thickening agents and such.
If you are not sure about whether or not to substitute cornstarch for flour and your mother-in-law is coming, stick with flour and sugar this time. Pour your creativity into your purée and your choice of chopped fruit or stick with the extremely yummy and Autumnal Harvest Breakfast Coffee Cake recipe.
There are a million options for making this cake. I have not tried all of them. I’d love to hear about the ingredients you used to make this cake - whether it turned out, or not, and what, if anything, you would do differently. You can find me at Mastodon.
A Note About Harmonizing Spices
The Harvest Breakfast Coffee Cake calls for chopped apples and pumpkin puree. Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger harmonize to the Autumn season.
But, what if it were summer and you had a giant zucchini from your garden? Chop it instead of the apples, puree some carrots, keep the cinnamon, use more ginger and add mace.
You see?
Getting Started
Gather your ingredients and preheat your oven to 180° C. or 350° F.
Dry Ingredients
| Weight | Ingredient | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 300 g. | Thickening Agent | Flour, Cocoa, Cornstarch (partial), Nut flours |
| 200 g. | Sweetening Agent | Sugar, Brown sugar, Coconut sugar, Stevia (2-4 tsp) |
| 10 g. | Backing powder | |
| 5 g. | Baking Soda | The soda will do more if you are using yogurt. |
| 4 g. | Salt | |
| 10 g. | Herbs and Spices | Harmonize with your fruit or vegetable |
Using a wire whisk combine these ingredients together so that the baking powder, baking soda and salt are distributed into the flour and sugar.
Wet Ingredients
| Weight | Ingredient | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 125 ml | Oil | All one kind or mix and match |
| 125 g. | Yogurt (optional) | |
| 4 | Large Eggs | Not sure of your egg size? Just weigh out 20-25 g. of egg and you’re good. |
| 485 g. | Fruit or Vegetable pureé | What’s in the house? |
| 450 g. | Fruit or Vegetable (chopped) | What’s in the house? |
| 100 g. | Dried Fruit | What’s in the house? Or optional |
| 100 g. | Nuts | What’s in the house? Or optional |
Stir the wet ingredients in to the dry ones until a nice thick dough forms.
Pour the dough into a 9x13 baking pan or two loaf pans and bake for about 45 min. Check to see if the cake is done when a knife comes out clean.