Food You Can Eat: Featherweight Coffee Cake

First things first:  Eating pastries for breakfast and cakes for dessert is glorious.  This must be what heaven is like.

A caveat before we get started:  I was going through one of the cabinets and stumbled across some shortening that I’d bought several months ago.  I’d totally forgotten about it—but it’s shortening which means it lasts forever—so I actually used it in this recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need:

4 Tbsp. Shortening or Butter

1 Cup Flour

½ Cup Sugar

3 tsp. Baking Powder

½ Cup Milk

1 Egg

½ tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Sugar

½ tsp. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease an 8-inch square pan.  Melt shortening or butter.  Allow to cool slightly and mix with egg and milk.  Sift dry ingredients together several times.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients and stir only long enough to smooth out the lumps. 

Pour batter into greased baking pan.  Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the unbaked breakfast cake. 

Bake for 12 to 15 19 minutes because God forbid any of these baking times should be correct.  Test with a toothpick to ensure doneness.

This one lives up to the name.  The cake is very light and fluffy and quite good.