A buttermilk coffee cake with a cinnamon-nut streusel swirled through the batter.

Ingredients

Streusel:

  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed measurement)
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 3 Tbsp butter (firm)
  • 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
  • 1/8 tsp orange peel (optional)

Batter:

  • 2-1/2 cups flour (preferably unbleached; 3/4 cup of whole wheat can be substituted for portion)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 5 Tbsp butter (softened)
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Prepare streusel: combine all streusel ingredients and set aside.
  3. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
  4. Cream sugar and butter before adding dry ingredients.
  5. Add eggs and buttermilk.
  6. Grease and flour pan.
  7. Pour 1/2 of batter into pan.
  8. Follow with 1/2 of streusel.
  9. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel.
  10. Bake for 35 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean).

Notes

  • This is a typical example of one of my kitchen habits — hybridizing recipes. This recipe is a combination of 2 or 3 other recipes that I found to be not quite to my liking.