Hobee’s Coffee Cake

TOPPING
5 tb Sugar, granulated
2 tb Butter
1/2 ts Cinnamon, ground

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, resift sift
flour with baking power, baking soda, salt and about 1 cup of sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla.
Add egg mixture to flour mixture and beat until smooth.

Oil a 9-inch square baking pan (you can also use an 8 inch square
pan, or anything of similar surface area, if you increase the baking
time by about 5 minutes).

Spread the batter in the pan. If you are using fruit or nuts,
scatter them over the batter and stir a little bit so that they stay
in the top layer.

In a small bowl, mix about 5 T sugar with the butter and cinnamon
with a sturdy fork, until they are blended and resemble cornmeal
(i.e., you should have a mixture of fine crumbs, not a smooth
mixture). Sprinkle topping over batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes,
until a clean toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out
dry. Cool slightly; serve warm or at room temperature. Don’t ruin it
by serving it with salted butter.

NOTES:

* Coffee cake from “Hobee’s Haven” restaurant here in Silicon Valley
(usually just called “Hobee’s”) serves a lot of brunch food, and as
far as I can tell they always include a piece of their coffee cake
with each order. Frankly, I don’t care for breakfast, nor do I
approve of places at which the only kind of tea you can order reeks
of orange and cinnamon… but the coffee cake is pretty good. This is
their recipe, printed in an advertising flyer for the shopping center
they inhabit; it’s quite easy.

* All ingredients and bowls should be a room temperature before you
start; this is particularly true for the butter.

: Difficulty: easy.
: Time: 10-15 minutes preparation, 20-30 minutes baking.
: Precision: measure the ingredients.

: Jeffrey Mogul
: Digital Equipment Corporation, Palo Alto, California, USA
: decwrl!mogul