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Tonight, Friends airs its final episode in the States. Thankfully the UK is a couple of episodes behind, so I shan’t burst into tears for a few more weeks… I’ve been a huge fan of Friends since the beginning and even have a copy of their cookbook – Cooking With Friends. In memorial of my favourite TV series, I decided to try out a few recipes from the book (yes, I’ve owned it for about 6 years but never cooked from it!) over the coming weeks.
After a quick flick through, I settled on making a Pecan Coffee Cake primarily as I had all the ingredients, well, except milk but I’ll get to that. I’ve always been intriegued by coffee cakes as I’ve never seen a coffee flavoured coffee cake. This has always baffled my little brain. It seems (after a little research on Epicurious), that a coffee cake is just a rich, sweet cake-like bread served at breakfast or with coffee.
This recipe turned out sooo well! The cake has an amazingly tender crumb which isn’t overly buttery and somehow tastes a little fruity. I slightly adapted the recipe by adding a generous teaspoon of vanilla extract. It’s also delightfully moist, which is surprising given how little liquid went into the batter. The pecan/sugar/cinnamon strusel on top makes a perfect foil for it, and somehow it manages not to be too sweet. I’m already planning some variations on the recipe. I think that adding a layer of stewed apples and sultanas or perhaps some sliced peaches in the middle of the cake would work really, really well with both the flavours and texture of the cake. Also, replacing the milk and some of the butter with yogurt would probably work; or even just replacing all the butter with some apple sauce… Incidentally, the gram measurements are mine, the book just had cup measures. A definite keeper!!
Pecan Coffee Cake, from “Cooking With Friends”
Serves 8.
Pecan Topping
1/2 cup (83g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped pecan nuts
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons (25g) unsalted butter, softened
Coffee Cake
8 tablespoons/1 stick (110g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (208g) firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (217g) plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 generous teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (dried skimmed milk [reconstituted] works in an emergency!)
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C. Grease a 9″ square cake pan with butter and set aside.
Mix the topping ingredients together with your fingers or a fork until the butter is cut into very small pieces and coated with sugar and nuts. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla and beat until the batter is smooth.
Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the batter alternately with the milk. Mix until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out. Sprinkle the batter evenly with the topping.
Bake until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out cleanly and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides. This will take about 30 minutes. Cool pan briefly on a wire rack and then cut into portions. Best served warm.
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Angela, this looks gorgeous! and I would imagine really scrummy tasting too!
I made my first streusel topped cake a couple of weeks back (using almonds) and it was such a hit!
it was so so tasty!
I like the look of this recipe a lot…
just a question… if you replace part of the butter with either yogurt or applesauce (or maybe even buttermilk?), would you do it 1:1 ratio or what would you suggest?
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Hi Renee! Yes, it is very, very scrummy
We’ve both been back for seconds (and thirds too, in my case).
I’d replace the butter with the same volume of applesauce/yogurt/buttermilk. Just in the cake itself, not in the strusel topping of course! (One stick of butter equals 1/2 cup of butter.) For flavour, it might be a good idea to leave in a tablespoon of butter. Buttermilk is a great idea, the crumb would be even more tender, I think!
I’m still trying to figure out how the cake managed to taste fruity despite it not having any fruit present!!
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Angela, I have that cookbook as well…and have had it for six years and have never cooked from it. Perhaps I should get it out and make something from it this weekend, since I had to have Friends taped so I will be watching it on Sunday evening. I promise not to tell you what happens, alhtough I’m sure if you’ve seen much of the show at all you KNOW Ross and Rachel…well…let’s wait till we see it!
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thanks, Angela, for the tips.
I’ll be trying out the recipe once the family’s had a little break from eating all the stuff I’ve been baking up.
they’ve started to complain a little at the destruction I’m wrecking on their waistlines! : p
and have “demanded” no cakes for a while!
hmmm… interesting about the fruity flavors… but sometimes our tastebuds get “fooled” a little… maybe it’s the combination of coffee and pecans with the sugar and cinnamon that “tricks” the palate with its sweetness…
I’m just guessing : ) but isn’t it fascinating?
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just to let you know – there IS coffee flavoured cake and it is divine – a favourite at family birthday parties and always requested by my brother. The coffee flavor is very mild and it has coffee icing on top (also sweet and mild)
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I found your site while searching for a recipe for coffee cake which was my Scottish mother’s much requested celebration cake but can’t find a recipe which actually contains coffee. The definition of coffee cake has also baffled my brains Angela so thanks for the clarification. The cake I remember also contained walnuts and was topped by a thick layer of coffee flavoured butter icing – heavenly! Pecans, however would be delicious in place of walnuts and I will definitely try your delicious sounding version of
coffee cake. In the meantime if anyone has a recipe for coffee flavoured cake I would love it if you could pass it on. Thanks.
mmmm sounds nice but it should be called coffeeless coffee cake shouldnt it?
It’s an American thing. Crumbly cakes like this, which you eat along with your cup of coffee, are commonly referred to as coffee cakes in America.
I made this and it tasted awesome!
I would definitely make this again since I am crazy about that cinnamon taste. It really goes a long way.
Although, I did use walnuts instead of pecans.