Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

I’m not a nutritionist (yet, anyways), but I’ve seen the Canada’s Food Guide enough times to know that cake is not one of the five food groups and that it definitely does not constitute as a meal. I know what cake is made of (refined white flour and sugar and eggs) and that whipped cream has an unfair amount of calories and fat and that these two heavenly components of a Swiss Roll contain absolutely no fibre or protein or other nutrients, and that as a growing teenager I should be eating nutritious foods but....

But I can’t help myself. On Fridays, I take baking lessons before which I barely have time to eat. As I rush from practice, exhausted, sweaty and starving, I grab a sandwich from Second Cup. But that’s only a snack. By the time I’ve lifted a couple heavy bowls or mixed something together, I’m hungry again. Really, it can’t be helped that the only thing to eat during baking lessons are cake scraps and chocolate coins.

My cakey laziness doesn’t stop there. Sometimes, when I’m feeling especially unmotivated to fix myself something nutritious to eat, I eat cake for dinner or pie for breakfast. Like I did on Saturday... and Sunday. You would think that since I’d eaten the whole thing, I’d resume eating normal meals, but then I made this Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake. It’s unbelievably moist, thanks to the yogurt and applesauce, and surprisingly light. The hint of cinnamon is intensified in the streusel topping which provides a subtle crunch. It's a good thing that this coffee cake is somewhat healthier than that Swiss Roll.

Click below for the recipe.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Yield: 1 9x13-inch pan or 1 10-inch Bundt pan

Source: http://www.eatrightontario.ca/CMSTemplates/EROWebsite/Templates/CentralAttachments/Bake_It_Up_final.pdf

Ingredients:

Streusel:

• ½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Cake:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 10-inch (3 L) Bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray and lightly flour. Alternatively, grease and flour a 9x13-inch cake pan. 

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, combine yogurt and baking soda (it will foam up). 

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together. Add the applesauce and stir until well mixed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture alternately with yogurt, making 3 additions of flour and 2 of yogurt mixture.

Spoon half of the batter into prepared Bundt pan. Sprinkle with three-quarters of the streusel. Cover with remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining streusel. With the back of a small spoon, pat streusel lightly into batter (to prevent streusel from falling off when cake is inverted and removed from pan). 

Bake for 40-50 minutes if using a Bundt pan (30 minutes if using a 9x13-inch pan) or until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Turnout onto rack to cool completely (this is unnecessary if the cake is baked in a regular pan). Cut into 12 slices or squares. 

Nutrition Facts: Serving size 93 g; Calories 220; Fat 5 g; Cholesterol 30 mg; Sodium 260 mg; 

Carbohydrates 40 g; Fibre 2 g; Sugars 24 g; Protein 5 g.