help me make a moist coffee cake.

November 25, 2007 2:30 PM

hi folks - another food question. I'm looking for a recipe for coffee cake, where the coffee cake turns out squishy instead of crumbly.

Every recipe I've tried (one using buttermilk, a couple others using sour cream) result in a crumbly, and kind of dry, coffee cake.

Does anyone have a recipe that results in a softer crumb, kind of squishy, coffee cake? Or a technique/trick that would make my coffee cake stick together (crumbs don't fly everywhere), and is moist? As much as I hate to admit it [snob that I am], I love the Starbucks low-fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake, and am looking for a consistency like that.

thanks for any thoughts/recipes/tips/etc!

posted by ethel to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

not sure how it would work in coffee cake, but i have a vegan friend who uses applesauce instead of eggs in selected baked goods with amazing results.. he made some cake using it that was much more moist and "squishy" like you describe
posted by white light at 3:46 PM on November 25, 2007

Add vegetable oil and corn syrup, leave out egg whites.
posted by hjo3 at 3:55 PM on November 25, 2007

This looks tasty...
posted by ms.v. at 3:57 PM on November 25, 2007

Use a higher gluten flour instead of cake flour.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 4:07 PM on November 25, 2007

Response by poster: hjo - would love to try this out, do you have a recipe or general proportions to go along with that? do you mean replace the amount of egg whites with an equal amount of corn syrup and oil, or replace the sugar with corn syrup and replace the butter with oil?
posted by ethel at 4:08 PM on November 25, 2007

Google gooey cake for a bunch of recipes. It's got a lot of extra butter and is a bit underbaked.
posted by theora55 at 4:08 PM on November 25, 2007

As soon as I read your question, Sour Cream Coffee Cake popped into my head.

Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) has a recipe on the Food Network site that's received a number of positive reviews. (Many praising its moistness.)

Although I haven't baked this myself, I think I'm going to have try it shortly. It looks delicious.
posted by not.so.hip at 4:52 PM on November 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Are you sure your oven is the correct temperature? If everything is turning out dry, then perhaps the thermostat is a bit out of whack.
posted by 26.2 at 5:08 PM on November 25, 2007

Response by poster: thanks for all the helpful replies, keep them coming!

26.2, I actually have an oven thermometer, and my temperature seems right - I'm mainly looking for the crumb to be a bit finer than I always seem to get it - I suppose more like a cake than the larger coffee cake crumbly crumb I always seem to get.
posted by ethel at 7:24 PM on November 25, 2007