Christmas

Quick Cardamom Pretzel Coffee Cake

November 10, 2014
4
4 Ratings
Photo by www.recipefiction.com
  • Makes One 9-inch square pan
Author Notes

Spicy, salty, buttery, sweet -- the pretzels give this a bit of crunch, and the cardamom and ginger give it a bit of punch. And since it’s coffee cake, bring on the coffee. —Melinda @ Recipe Fiction

Test Kitchen Notes

Preparing this coffee cake is truly quick, and the yogurt sets it apart from other coffee cakes. It feels light, spongy, and almost healthy. The cardamom and pretzels also help you convince yourself of the latter, so you can have an extra slice. To suit my taste, I added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon to the topping and cut down the cardamom to 1/2 teaspoon, though I might cut it down a little bit more. The topping would probably also be delicious with pumpkin spice. And though it may seem odd, the pretzels are essential -- they give the crunch and an interesting sweet and salty flavor. Baking it in a large loaf pan took about 35 minutes. —littlethingamajigs

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter plus 2 tablespoons
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup crushed pretzels
Directions
  1. Heat oven to 425° F (220 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan or a 9-inch round Bundt pan.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut in 1/3 cup of the butter with a pastry blender or your hands until the mixture resembles small peas.
  3. In a separate small bowl whisk together the milk, yogurt, egg, and vanilla. Add the liquids to the flour mixture all at once. Stir until just blended and little or no dry flour bits remain.
  4. In a small bowl, use your fingers to mix together the remaining butter, brown sugar, crushed pretzels, and spices, blending until all the ingredients are combined into a course crumb. For a 9-inch square, pour the batter into the prepared pan and then sprinkle the crumb topping on top of batter. For the Bundt pan, put the topping in the pan first and then spread the batter over the top.
  5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If using a Bundt pan, allow to cool for about five minutes before inverting. If some of the topping sticks to the pan just scoop it out and reapply to the top of the cake -- no one else is up yet so no one has to know.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Melinda @ Recipe Fiction
    Melinda @ Recipe Fiction
  • Rosemarie Mullin
    Rosemarie Mullin

4 Reviews

Melinda @. November 23, 2014
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 
Rosemarie M. November 22, 2014
Hi instructions section 3 mentions yogurt but no quantity is listed in the ingredient list. What quantity do you add? Thanks
 
Melinda @. November 22, 2014
Oh my goodness. Guess I hadn't had quite enough coffee when I was entering this. It's a 1/4 cup of yogurt. Thank you so much for pointing that out!
 
Rosemarie M. November 23, 2014
Thank you, I love the flavours & will try it out.