The Coffee Cake Conundrum
Does one really need coffee cake in their lives? I answer with an emphatic YES! At least this one you do. As a matter of fact, I find it hard to believe that you could live without it. Phillip was skeptical when it came out of the oven. He actually veered around it, staying clear because see, coffee cake wasn't his thing either. But in the end, he asked for a piece...and then another!! Ha-hah!
So let's get to the bottom of this coffee cake issue. History lesson number two (the first was where did cherry pie come from and no, I am not referring to the birds and the bees.) So the first known coffee cakes were from biblical times in which honey cakes were prepared. They evolved with the French galettes, the precursor to the controversial fruitcake. The French then took it to whole new levels with sweet yeast rolls and Danishes that really did contain coffee. Enter my people...the Dutch and German from New Jersey, Delaware and New York. They perfected the coffee cake with swirls of cinnamon in the middle or crumbly streusel topping on top. The Scandinavians were the pioneers of taking breaks to eat the coffe cake. Thank you, very much for that!!
Well this little beast of deliciousness crosses a banana with chocolate and invites a cheesecake to the party. A little ménage à trois takes place and voilà, banana bread chocolate cream cheese coffee cake enters the world. To stick to my true German/Dutch heritage I added the streusel topping. Love it!
Excuse the X-rated references but I have to tell you a funny. My idea for this cake came about while Phillip and I were taking Emmy and Olivia for a walk. I came through the door and snapped a quick picture and told Phillip was going au naturale for my blog. He got a little excited and thought that I was going to go the full monty with my blog and set up a video. Whoah! That is not what I meant. I was referring to ixnay on the makeup and hair. I just wasn't into it today, knowing that I had a workout ahead of me.
I gave Phillip some credit though. I mean, I wonder how many hits someone would get for doing a nude cooking show on the internet. Probably a lot if it was someone people wanted to look at naked. I am all about being at the forefront of a revolution, but naked baking takes some serious cojones and I might need a few margaritas before I even consider it. Don't worry, Mom! The cojones will never be that serious.
But I can tell you what I am serious about. This coffee cake, so let's do this thing!!
Banana Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Streusal Coffee Cake!! (It's a mouthful in more ways than one)
Preheat oven to 350* and grease and flour a bundt pan really, really well.
Ingredients:
Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup pecans (or walnuts) Chopped
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP cinnanmon
6 TBSPS cold butter
Place all ingredientgs in food processor and pulse until crumbly. Set aside
Cake:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon.
Mix together and set aside
In electric mixer, beat the following
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
Add 2 eggs
Next add 1 cup ripe bananas (about two large ones or three small ones.
1 tsp vanilla. (If you don't have ripe bananas, place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 325* for 25 minutes)
Alternate adding the flour mixture with 1 1/4 cups sour cream, alternating the two.
Pour in 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Put aside 1 cup of the batter and pour the rest into the bundt pan.
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup of reserved batter
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
Blend and spread over the batter, making sure that the cream cheese doesn't touch the tube or sides of the pan. Pour the remaining batter over the cream cheese layer. Don't worry, it will be thin. Pour the streusal topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool. Invert onto wire rack and then flip it back over so streusel topping is on top. Let cool completely.
When ready to serve, combine the vanilla glaze ingredients.
Vanilla Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 TBSPs milk
1 Tsp vanilla.
Drizzle over cake. Chop up some left over chocolate chips and sprinkle them over the glaze.
I know we are not supposed to use the word moist, especially when there have been some serious sexual inuendos in this blog, but I don't know what work would be better to use. I checked the thesaurus for you and it gave me words like soggy, dampy, oozy and I am certain that moist is the least offensive. With the sour cream in the batter and cream cheese center, it's a coffee cake to be proud of.
Just look at my face...au naturale. Sorry, couldn't resist one last time.
