This was an easy uncomplicated recipe and it produced one of my favorite types of cakes-the morning coffee cake. It also produced a beautiful batter-one I couldn't quit tasting. I ended up adding a tablespoon of vanilla bean powder to my recipe-just because I love vanilla ! Baked Explorations recommends making "large" crumbs for the crumb style topping. I started out large and ended up crumbling the topping into more manageable pieces . While I love that cinnamon sugar style crumb topping I love the cake even more and that's what I wanted to taste. 
I recently broke my glass 9x13 pan so I did bake this in a metal pan. I didn't want my sides to crispy so I lined my pan with parchment paper, which made it really easy to remove once it was finished. I had thought of making this like little individual cakes but then figured I liked the thought of a large coffee cake better. I think this would have worked beautifully in a bundt type pan too.
My kitchen smelled like I remember my grandmother's kitchen smelling when I was growing up. That cinnamon cake smell wafted throughout all the rooms. It was very hard letting this cake cool, I just wanted to slice right into it. And as soon as J got home from work he asked what that wonderful smell was.
We both really enjoyed this. It was a great way to spend the morning. Sitting in this wonderful Seattle sunshine, a good cup of espresso and a fresh slice of cake. Life doesn't get much better, does it ?
Head over to Baked Sunday Mornings and see how everyone else did with this cake. I'm going to have another slice with a cold glass of milk as a late night snack !
