Sunday, November 29, 2009

LAUSD Coffee Cake



A couple of months ago, I hosted a brunch for a few of my friends from high school [well, technically we've all known each other since elementary school].  One of my friends brought a coffee cake to the brunch.  All of us were slowly eating it because it tasted so darned familiar.

"I've had this before..." i said, "but I can't figure out WHERE."

Jana smiled at me and said, "think down memory lane...it's a recipe from a long, long time ago."

Judy shouted, "OH MY GOSH, this is the coffee cake recipe from junior high school!! I used to eat this all the time!"

When she said "all the time", she wasn't kidding - we all did.  It was our go-to snack/breakfast during recess.  You know...back in the day when calories didn't mean anything because you could burn it off by simply breathing.

I've been craving this coffee cake so I thought I'd do a nice thing and make some for my co-workers [who sadly, can not burn off the calories from this coffee cake just by breathing...but don't tell them I said that!].

LAUSD Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Adapted from LAUSD

CAKE INGREDIENTS
3 ¾ cups all purpose flour
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp nonfat dry milk
1¼ tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1½ tsp cinnamon
3½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp vinegar
1½ cups water
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp butter
1¼ cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs

TOPPING INGREDIENTS
¾ cup plus 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
dash salt
¼ + 1/8 tsp cinnamon
¼ + 1/8 tsp nutmeg
¼ cup butter

CAKE:
Combine flour, dry milk, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Combine vinegar and water in measuring cup. Set aside.

In mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on low speed until blended. Add eggs and continue to blend on low speed for 1 minute.

While mixer is on low speed, add dry ingredients alternately with water and vinegar to butter-sugar mixture. Scrape down bowl, then blend on medium speed for 1 additional minute.

TOPPING:
Sift together all ingredients except butter into a bowl, set aside. Cream butter in mixing bowl, adding the dry ingredients until topping is crumbly.



Evenly divide batter between 2 greased 9-by-9-inch pans. Spread ¾ cup topping evenly over batter in each pan. Bake in preheated 375° oven until tester comes out clean when inserted in the center of cake (about 45 to 55 minutes).

Makes 18 servings.

11 comments:

  1. you mentioned Jana and Judy...no shout out for Jeffrey?? boo.

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  2. Ummmm... was this served at LAUSD cafeterias? I've never had the fortune (or misfortune) to eat public school cafeteria food. - tosh

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  3. Well, I was going to add Jeff but all he said was, "oh yeah...it is!!" so I thought, naw...cut it out.

    Yes, it was! and it was AWESOME, Ms Sacred Heart...

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  4. Typical French faux pas - "a coffee cake? Interesting, where is ze coffee in zat recipe?" [sigh]We're so *thick*.

    You score tons of derishous points with that cake :-)

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  5. Hmmm...that's a good question. Does it count that the coffee is to the SIDE of the cake?? :)

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  6. I wish I had coffee cake as a snack...I got apples. Woohoo...

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  7. Deborah said....

    Hummmm..... so glad to find the correct recipe for LAUSD's coffee cake. Haven't had any for a few years since the school stopped making it.

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  8. Hi Jen,

    New to the site, I have been looking for this for years and I keep running into a couple different ones. One has buttermilk and this is the other. I just pulled up your site and OH MY GOD!!! That looks exactly like what I ate daily at Audubon Jr. High School. I am going to try it and I really hope it is what I am looking for. Thank you for the picture, you have renewed my faith.

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  9. Oh my gosh, I made this last night and it was absolutely great!!! I was sitting in my dining room thinking about how much this reminded me of school. Thanks a lot Jen, you have made my year!

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  10. Oh, thank YOU, Shuntib! you made MY year from that comment!!! Glad you enjoyed it!

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  11. I am very blessed to teach at an LAUSD high school and very lucky to eat the great coffee cake. I once posted a picture of my piece of coffee cake on Facebook and all my friends were jealous and wished they could eat some.
    Thanks for this post!! ;-)

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