This morning, like many Sunday mornings, I woke up with a fierce sweet tooth. I had spent the previous night dreaming of sugar plums and ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls with dense, sticky icing. You know the dreams. The kind that have you tossing and turning and smacking your lips in your sleep. Well, upon waking, you can imagine my disappointment to learn that there were in fact no ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls nor dense, sticky icing to be had.

I wished briefly for a cinnamon roll delivery service in my neighborhood, but before I could allow my train of thought to be derailed into business plans, I needed to satisfy that wicked sweet tooth.

I love cinnamon rolls, but they are time consuming. In fact, they are best prepared the night before, so that the dough can rise overnight and create that stretchy, chewy texture that makes them, well, cinnamon rolls. In my opinion, there's just no point in half-assing it. So, cinnamon rolls out of the question, I turned my sights on the ol' brunch standby: coffee cake.

Coffee cake is quick, easy and oh-so-deeeelish. It's also a great way to creatively use random ingredients in your kitchen, by mixing and matching things for different variations on the basic recipe. Fresh raspberries and chocolate chips? Dried blueberries and crystallized ginger pieces? Jam swirl? Use your imagination, but rest assured that the cake gods will always smile on you as long as you follow the basic recipe and your best creative figure-it-out-ness to make it your own.

Something sweet and cinnamon-y was a must for my morning bake session, that much was certain. So, I rummaged through my pantry and fridge and assembled the following: ground cinnamon, brown sugar, homemade apple butter and cocoa powder. Sounds like a good start, huh? I thought so.



Basic Coffee Cake
Yield: 9 servings

Cake
3/4 cup plain soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1-2 mashed bananas or 1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

Add-ons for Cinnamon Apple Butter Swirl version:
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2-3/4 cup apple butter

Topping
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
4 Tbsp Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks (or other vegan margarine)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray an 8-9 inch square pan with oil. In a measuring cup, stir apple cider vinegar into soy milk and set aside.

Prepare the cake batter: In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add sugar, bananas/applesauce, vanilla extract and soy milk mixture. Stir until just combined but don't overwork.

Prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and cocoa. Cut in Earth Balance in small chunks and mix in with a fork or your fingers until the mixture is nice and crumbly.

Pour the cake batter into your oiled pan and spread flat with the back of a spoon. Dot the batter with spoonfuls of apple butter randomly until you've added it all. Using the tip of the spoon, stir the apple butter around to mix slightly with the cake batter. Pour crumb topping over the apple butter and pat down slightly.

Bake 40 minutes and allow to cool quite a bit before slicing. (Some folks say that a coffee cake must reach room temp before serving, but who the hell can wait that long when it smells SO good?)

This coffee cake is fantastic served as-is, and it's pretty sweet. However, if you're really gung-ho to add some ooey-gooeyness to your morning meal, there's a little something extra you can do while your cake is cooling off. Mix up a batch of vegan cream cheese frosting, just like they slather on those disgustingly sweet cinnamon rolls.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: More than enough for one coffee cake :)

4 oz vegan cream cheese
1/4 cup Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Combine first three ingredients in a small mixing bowl and go to it with a hand mixer, adding powdered sugar a little at a time. You may not need to use all of it or if you have a really killer sweet tooth, you may wish to add more. Spread on top of entire coffee cake before slicing or frost each piece individually (since some people like more frosting than others). Enjoy!