Cinnamon Streusel Greek Yoghurt Coffee Cake

Makes 1 Cake

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Nothing can replace a scalding hot bath; you know the one's - where the water feels like a constant barrage of liquid flames lapping at your waist. The type of bath that leaves welcomed heat marks plastered over your body. The bath you take when the red devil decides to take up his monthly post in your uterus and hunkers down for a good week or so. Fellas, I assume most of you have grappled with a tummy bug or two in your life, and you've sought the relentless heat of a blistering bath to ease that coil in your belly. This is pretty similar to that bath you take to kick gastro in the nards (if you were at all curious). Well, I couldn't have that bath this week - the bathroom is being redone and I have to sit in the corner of the shower with the shower head on my stomach, cursing the waning moon. Nothing can replace a scolding hot bath... but I really needed to try, and so I methodically planned out the coffee cake of my dreams. I could eat away my pain and inject a small amount of caffeine into my spirit and I'd be hating the tradies a little less that day.

Gooey, sorta pie-like, sorta cake-like, this coffee cake has a unique but perfect texture. Look away now if you are triggered by the word 'moist', because, along with all of it's synonyms, I will be perching on the rooftops, shouting it out, tapping the 't' at the end of the word, and labouring over the 'mmmm' at the beginning of it. Side note - can we please universally accept the sheer lack of personality one has to have to be openly exasperated by a word with such good intentions as moist? I digress; this cake is moist, hella moist if you will. It's the cake to bake when you need butter, sugar, and comfort from the chill that's breaching our Southern Hemisphere air right now. I needed the act of baking something as much as I needed the cake this week, and this is the perfect one to labour over - not too much nor too little fuss, and just decadent enough to ease those hot-bath cravings.

If you are lucky enough to have a fricken working bath, then eat this cake in the f***ing boiled water of my dreams and let me live vicariously for a minute.

PRO TIPS

• This cake is will seem under-baked but imagine it like a pumpkin pie in texture - that's how you know it's done

• If you like real apples in your cake then you can absolutely stir in chopped apple to the batter!

• Be cautious that different sized pans will require slightly different timings, so keep an eye on the cake after the 50 minute mark.

Recipe

Ingredients

Base

• 8 tablespoons of softened butter

• 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar

• 120mls of apple sauce

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean extract

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup of greek yoghurt (or sour cream)

• 2 cups of flour

• 2 teaspoons of baking powder

• 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda

• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt

• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom

• 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup of brewed coffee (use more to actually taste the coffee)

• 1/4 cup of boiling water (if you are only using 1/4 cup of coffee)

Filling

• 3 tablespoons of very softened butter

• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon of flour

Topping

• 1/2 a cup of oats

• 1/2 a cup of flour

• 1/2 a cup of brown sugar

• 4 tablespoons of softened butter

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

• A pinch of salt

Method

Base

1. Preheat your oven to 180℃.

2. Beat together the butter & sugar until light and creamy

3. Mix in the yoghurt, apple sauce, & vanilla. Then beat in the eggs one by one, until fully incorporated.

4. Slowly fold in your dry ingredients.

5. Stir in the coffee and boiling water until just mixed in.

6. Pour into a cake pan lined with butter.

Filling

1. Mix together all the filling ingredients until creamy.

2. Add dollops of the filling on top of the cake and use a butter knife to swirl the filling through the cake mixture.

Topping

1. Mix together all of the topping ingredients until you reach a slightly crumbly texture. If the mixture holds together in a bowl then you need to add more flour or oats to get a slight crumble to the it.

2. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the cake

3. Place the cake in the oven for 55-65 minutes.

4. Serve with runny honey and greek yoghurt (the cake is best eaten hot, and tastes great the next day out of the microwave).

5. ENJOY!!

Stay Salty,

Romy xx