Not exactly to die for

I baked this coffee cake this afternoon, expecting it to be amazing, since the reader would want it on their deathbed, but it fell far short of my expectations. The cake was moist and had a good crumb, but the flavor lacked depth. It was just too sweet, and the walnuts add a nice crunch, but don't make up anything in terms of the flavor.

I'm sure that the person who wrote asking for this recipe has embellished this cake in their memory. Its appeal must be about the idea of that coffeecake we ate in the high school cafeteria rather than the cake itself. Sadly, without the memories, the cake is just a cafeteria style dessert.

I did check twice to see if I forgot to add cinnamon, but there isn't any in this recipe. I love cinnamon, but that would have been okay if it wasn't too sweet. I halved the recipe and baked it in a square cake pan, which seemed too large for the amount of batter, but it puffed up nicely and fit the pan, so I don't think that made any difference. I think the sour cream added a good tang to it, but I'd cut back the sugar. Anyone have a better recipe out there?

5 comments:

Brigindo said...

I swear by the Joy of Cooking's Deluxe Sunday Morning Coffee Cake.

AliceAcademic said...

Thanks, Brigando. I'll have to get a hold of that.

Anthea said...

Well, if the cake has a good crumb and you know that it rises I'd be tempted to add more cinnamon etc to make it tastier rather than search for another recipe. This is what I usually do.

Z said...

I clicked on this blog because of the title - I thought of using Alice when I started my blog, too. So I was curiouser and curiouser.

I think this is the nicest template / layout for a blog I've ever seen.

AliceAcademic said...

Welcome Z,
Glad you said hello. Thanks for the compliments on the template, but I can't take credit, it is one of the standard choices on blogger!