Sourdough Surprises: Lightener Coffee Cake

One of the first recipes I made when I attempted to blog was coffee cake. It wasn't on my to-do list; rather it was a spur of the moment craving.

Now my to-do list is about 100 times longer, I spend my summers in a bathing suit due to my divemaster job, and Sourdough Surprises picks coffee cake as the August Challenge. So what did I do? I took my old recipe and lightened it up a touch!

Of course, my desire to look decent in a swimsuit wasn't the only motivating factor. I still used regular sugar as opposed to the stevia blends I've been experimenting with some. The egg shortage, even though my original recipe called for just a single egg, did as well. Fortunately Greek yogurt makes an excellent substitution for oil and eggs.

On that note, I'm also moving up in the world. No more endless binders full of recipes. Now I'm reading them off of a tablet:

The new recipe:

Lighter Sourdough Coffee Cake

Adapted from food.com

Serves 9

Cake:

1 cup ripe sourdough starter

1 5.3oz container vanilla Greek yogurt (I used Yoplait Greek 100)

1 cup flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tblsp butter

1 tblsp flour

1. Combine sourdough starter and yogurt. Mix dry ingredients, add to starter mixture.
2. Pour into prepared 9” square pan
3. Combine streusel ingredients, sprinkle over batter
4. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes

I made 1 major mistake – I absentmindedly melted the butter for the streusel. I just went with it. But as you can see in the picture, the streusel kind of...disappeared:

There it is. Upside-down coffee cake, anyone? But it still tasted delicious – and unlike many fat-free baked goods, retained it's moisture for the three days it took us to finish it. For 190 total calories a slice!

Check out our other awesome coffee cakes!