Aunt Joanie's Prize Coffee Cake

Creating and sharing food with others is one of my favorite pastimes. A dish well made and shared with friends or family becomes a memory for everyone who enjoys it, and the recipe for that dish can bring to mind the fond times spent together. 

I am fortunate to have a box of recipes collected by my mother over those years, and when I find a recipe, it brings back memories, not only of the times I’ve enjoyed that dish, but also of the person who wrote it. 

While going through that recipe box, I found some recipes from my Aunt Joanie. Immediately, I remembered riding in her brown Ford Pinto to St. Sauveur in Acadia National Park for a hike one summer day when I was a boy. She brought Dorito’s, which, at that time, were available only in one flavor: nacho cheese. I think we met her friend K.G. then, but I don’t recall. K.G., however, recalls clearly our first meeting, as I apparently was going through a spitting phase.

When I was going through those recipes, I found one for a dish I had never tried before: Aunt Joanie’s prize-winning coffee cake. As soon as I saw it, I knew I’d have to make it.

Aunt Joanie's prize-winning coffee cake

It's a simple recipe for a moist, light coffee cake like none other I've ever eaten, and it's best eaten warm, as it falls apart in your hands. After I baked it, I gobbled down two pieces and realized I'd better send a text my aunt to thank her for giving my mother the recipe. She told me then that she had created it for an eighth-grade home economics class, and that it had indeed won a prize. She didn’t mention K.G.

Aunt Joanie’s prize-winning coffee cake

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. flour

1-1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbls. melted butter

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1-1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease or spray an 8-by-8 baking pan.

In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon, breaking up any lumps, then stir in the melted butter till well mixed.

In a medium bowl, cream the shortening and sugar, then beat in the egg. Stir in the milk well. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, then stir them into the wet ingredients in the medium bowl. 

Pour half of the batter into the baking pan, sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on it, spoon the rest of the batter on top of that and then sprinkle on the rest of the brown sugar mixture. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes (till golden brown on top). Remove the cake and let it cool for 10 minutes or so before cutting and serving. Serve while still warm. 

Note: I baked this in a ceramic pan, so it took the full 35 minutes. It should cook faster in a metal pan. 

Optional additions: Customize the recipe by adding chopped walnuts, slivered almonds, or any other nut of choice to the topping. Those with a real sweet tooth might add toffee pieces, butterscotch chips or chocolate chips to the batter. If you're feeling really adventurous, put some apple or peach butter in a squeeze bottle and use that instead of brown sugar mix atop the first layer of batter or just drizzle it over the coffee cake for a more elegant presentation.