One of my favorite treats growing up was Jewish Coffee Cake.
I would stand around watching Mom make it, just waiting for those batter-covered spatulas and bowls so I could lick them clean.
And the smell of it baking…the aroma of cinnamon wafting around my nose and tickling me with delight.
I couldn’t wait to dig into that cake.

Jewish Coffee Cake is something we’ve been making in the family since before I was born. Unless Mom tells me otherwise, but I believe it is an old recipe. And don’t get me wrong, I am not in the least bit Jewish, and I honestly have no idea how it came to be called Jewish Coffee Cake, but it is what it is. I even tried to Google it and came back empty-handed.

If you know, please tell me. Please.

You might be wondering about the baking fail I mentioned in the title. Well. I’ve been making this coffee cake the same way for years now, and I thought on a whim that I would try something new. Like adding streusel topping.

Needless to say, I made the biggest baking error by forgetting to adjust the cooking temperature to compensate for the added ingredients and the insulating effect the streusel has.

I ended up with this:

Why is this so important? Because of air. As you add flour, you are mixing air into the batter, and that air provides buoyancy. Buoyancy makes your cake soft, light and fluffy. Even the heaviest of cake needs it to survive. When you over-mix the batter, you beat out the air and end up with a dense, dry, tough cake. The only thing that saves a cake like that is a lot of frosting.

Mmm, frosting.