Lesson 6: Coffeecake
Coffeecakes are the dessert of the quick bread world. While other breads can be made sweet or savory, coffeecakes are all about sweet. They contain more sugar than the other breads, and are more like traditional cakes than breads, but still less sweet than traditional cakes and never frosted like other cakes. They’re also often used with scones and other breads at teatime, so that’s why we cover them here. Also, there’s a good section on them in “The Best Quick Breads,” so why not discuss them?
Sweet Cakes
When I was growing up, my parents always had a New Year’s Eve party. The last thing they would bring out, after an evening of food and toasts at midnight, was a giant coffeecake full of cinnamon and other spices. That was the only time we ever made it, so it always seemed like a special thing to me.
But the great thing about coffeecake is that it’s simple. Sometimes it’s made like a quick bread, sometimes more like a cake, but the variations are easy. It can be made without butter, where you basically combine the dry ingredients, add the wet and mix until combined. Or it can be made with room temperature butter that is creamed with the sugar in a mixer before the other wet and dry ingredients are added. If this method is used you want to be extra careful not to over mix, because, like the other quick breads, too much handling can be disastrous.
Whichever way you mix it, "The Best Quick Breads" advises it should go in the oven as soon as possible after mixing. There are often fruits or cream cheese mixtures in these types of breads, as you will see looking at our recipes, and these may be mixed into the cake batter or layered in, so follow the recipe when you build the cake. Start checking for doneness five or 10 minutes before the recipe says it will be done. The toothpick test is the best way to determine if it’s done. The cake should also be pulling away from the sides of the pan.
