Donut Coffee Cake

So, earlier today I ran across a recipe I found ages ago on a blog called Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. This recipe is for coffee cake that supposedly tastes like donuts. As in those old fashioned cake donuts which, believe it or not, are totally my favorite kind. So, you know what had to happen, right?

Got it in one.


Let the baking commence!

First for the recipe:

Donut Coffee Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Combine egg and buttermilk and add to butter and sugar mix. Combine dry ingredients and then add to the wet mix. Spread into a greased 9X9 pan and then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until done.

Now, the UK is pretty much completely devoid of buttermilk. This is something I have found to my great irritation. Even when one can find it, the price of gold would be cheaper. I really don't understand why a country overrun with cows can't make reasonably priced buttermilk or any buttermilk at all, really. The stuff I found was actually imported from the US, of all things.

But I digress.

The point is I used milk with a splash of lemon juice. It works very well, as does milk with a splash of vinegar. Just don't use malt vinegar 'cause that, my friends, would be nasty.

One thing I found was that when you mix the sugar/butter mixture to the egg/milk mixture you get this gross mess that looks like curdled milk. I was absolutely SURE that this wasn't going to mix right and I'd end up with lumps, but once I added in the dry ingredients, it was fine.

(Look, Mom! No lumps!)

The question remains: Does it really taste like a donut?

Well, the batter certainly had that sort of cake donutty taste. I think maybe it comes from the nutmeg? No idea. But at least batter-wise it works.

(Sprinkling on the sugah!)

So, I popped it in the oven. (For me this meant Gas Mark 4. For those of you doing the whole centigrade thing, that's 180 degrees.) Thirty minutes later I had a perfect, lovely coffee cake.

(Baking perfection!)

Now for the truth!

No, it doesn't taste "exactly" like a cake donut and, being cake, it's missing that essential texture, BUT it definitely is reminiscent of the old fashioned donutty taste. It's also about one of the easiest coffee cake recipes I've ever used. Nom! Nom!

I give it a solid four stars out of five.

(Keep Calm and Carry On)

Hanky Wavin' Good Times

Every so often I like to visit my friend, Sheena's church in Reading. Reading is a bit of a trek, so it's not something I can to every Sunday, but it's nice to be able to take a train out of London and spend the weekend with a good friend capped off by some hanky wavin' worship!

See, Sheena goes to a mostly black church. The pastor is from Jamaica. The associate pastor is from Nigeria. And they bring in that flavour of passion and joy that you just don't find in a lot of churches these days, especially here in the UK.

Preaching involves a lot of shouting and sweating and "Amen, Hallelujahs". Worship involves a lot of dancing (and I ain't talking the BT two step) and hanky waving. You better believe it's a good service if the ladies have their hankies out! Not for crying, but like spiritual pompoms.

Last Sunday the service was fantastic! No hanky waving, but there was plenty of clapping and dancing and shouting and carrying on both during worship AND during the preaching. You see, we get chastised if we don't shout and holler back at the preacher when he's preaching. "Ain't nobody talkin' to me," he'll say. "Must be nobody out there." And of course that gets everybody all fired up.

There seems to be some sort of difference between normal preaching and PREACHIN'. Once again, the pastor was preaching along and getting all worked up and then he says, "Ohhh, I wanna preach now but I'm tryin' to behave myself." Much laughter. (I turned to Sheena and asked, "What's he been doing for the past 20 minutes, then?") He didn't behave himself long 'cause before we knew it, he was PREACHIN'. There was sweat! There was hollerin'! There was organ music! There was bobbing up and down and pacing back and forth! There was waving of hands and stomping of feet! There was a big, green towel (for the mopping of sweat)! It was pretty awesome. If church had been like this when I was a kid, I doubt I'd have been so bored.

The most awesome thing was that so many things he was saying had deep resonance with me and where I am right now. In fact, church started at 10am and it was nearly 2pm by the time we got out. I didn't even notice. Me, the hater of long church services. Go figure. I guess when a preacher is actually saying something interesting in an interesting way, one doesn't get bored. lol

Sheena is singing in the Easter service, so I'll be back to wave my hanky for that.

In the meantime, check out this youtube video. It'll give you an idea of what her church is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B72NWjVGr0I