Indigo Robinson

KNH 103

Report 10.5 Recipe Analysis

05/04/17

Analyzing Coffee Cake Recipes from the Past to Present

When deciding what recipe to look up, I had a hard time choosing a recipe to research. I

definitely knew that I wanted to look up a dessert. This narrowed the type of food down by a

little but there are so many different types of desserts. Going with the theme of dessert, I knew

that I wanted to do this project on a type of cake. This lead me to finally deciding to do this

project on coffee cake. I knew that coffee cake went back for a couple hundred of years so the

recipe would be a very common one in recipe books.

Coffee cake is thought to have gone all the way back to Germany in the 17th century. It

became the tradition to enjoy and appreciate a delicious sweet type of bread when consuming

coffee, hence the name coffee cake. Actually, it was not until the late 1800s that the name

coffee cake became a common term.

The first recipe that I found, I found in King Library when we took a visit to the

special/very dated book collection. This recipe book was called The Household Treasury which

dates all the way back to 1870. This recipe book was not created by one author but it is a

compilation of different peoples recipes from before the 1900s. A lot of these recipes did not

include instructions to make some of the food items that were included in the book. The coffee

cake recipe was no exception. It did however, list how much of each ingredient was required to
successfully make the coffee cake. Some of the ingredients were not present in the other recipes

of coffee cake that I discovered. These ingredients included molasses and fruit. These unique

ingredients of coffee cake were interesting additions to the cake and would add a good flavor to

the coffee cake. This recipe did not include health benefits, nutritional claims, or nutritional

information.

The second recipe that I found was from the 1972 Betty Crocker Cookbook and the name

of the recipe is called Favorite Coffee Cake. This recipe did not actually contain coffee. It was a

surprise to me because the recipes that I have eaten, have contained coffee and a brown sugar

topping. This recipes recipe format was using a number system and the instructions were very

minimal. The ingredients in this coffee cake recipe were very common. There was cinnamon,

flour, sugar, egg, baking powder, and salt. This recipe also used the numbered instructions and

the serving size was eight.

The third recipe that I found was the Quick Sugar and Cinnamon Coffee Cake from the

book Amish and Mennonite Kitchens (1984). This recipe was the only recipe to use shortening.

As well as the other recipes that I looked at, this recipe used the numbering system for the

instructions. The ingredients as well as the instructions were very simple and easy to follow. This

recipe made one square cake. This recipe used cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Sifting the

dry ingredients was also used in this recipe along with the last recipe that I found. This makes a

difference in the amount of work needed to mix the batter together and it makes for a lighter and

fluffier cake.

The last recipe that I found was one online. The name of the website was Pioneer Woman

and the recipe was put onto her blog website in 2010. The name she chose for the coffee cake

was The Best Coffee Cake Ever. This coffee cake recipe was the most unique one out of all of
the recipes that I have previously discussed. This recipe requires the baker to separate the egg

yolks and the egg whites and to beat the egg whites until stiff. This alteration to the basic/normal

coffee cake recipe was a very modern and different take on the batter. This recipe did not include

actual coffee just like some of the other coffee cake recipes that I researched. On the webpage,

the author of the recipe added pictures and funny/cute comments with each step in making the

coffee cake. This added an entertainment element to the recipe reading process. As well as rthe

little comments, at the end of the page, there was the actual recipe in the numbering format. Tgis

recipe made 16 servings. I noticed that as the recipes got newer and newer, the recipe yield got

larger and larger. Also, the temperature in which the coffee cake was to be cooked was different,

as well as the amount of time it took to bake fully.

The recipes that I found were very similar in certain ways. Most of the recipes had a

brown sugar topping. Also, they all included eggs, flour, butter, sugar, and baking powder/baking

soda. Usually, when there is baking soda in a recipe, there is an acidic liquid that goes with it but

the first and oldest recipe that I found did not have the addition of an acidic liquid.

There were some differences in the recipes that I found. Not all of the coffee cake recipes

included coffee in the ingredient. Also, one of the recipes that I did research on had the addition

of shortening. The creamy fat element to the recipe probably added a moistness to the coffee

cake. Some of the recipes for coffee cake categorized the cake as dessert and some of them

categorized them as breakfast. I could see that it could be considered since the cake is usually

eaten while drinking coffee but, at the same time, I can see it being eaten for dessert after a

savory meal. It could go either way.

My interest in recipe and product development is the compilation of all the recipes that I

have made and have been successful. I actually have a recipe book back at home with the recipes
that I have made over the past 7 years. My grandmother gave it to me as a gift in 2017 and I have

been keeping a record of the successful recipes ever since. When I become a dietitian, and start

helping people with their diets, I would love to make a cookbook of healthy recipes that I have

adapted from the recipes that I currently use. I would modify them to fit the recommended daily

intake of certain types of food and make sure that they are both healthy and taste good.

Another possibility would be to work for a food company. I could help modify the

ingredients use in their products and make sure that they are healthy and will not cause health

problems as the people consume them.

Overall, I really liked looking up the recipes and seeing the transformation of them across

time. It was interesting to see that the first and oldest recipe of coffee cake did not have

directions. It goes to show that back in the day it was common to just know/ have an instinct

for what to put in the bowl and when to put said ingredients in. One day, I hope to be able to just

tell based on my instincts how much and when to put ingredients in when making a dish. It

would be nice to not have to rely on recipe books so much. I have learned a lot from this project

and I look forward to possibly making a cookbook of my own in the future.