On the off chance that you've not yet tried this coffee cake, I wanted to post instructions for making it before your holiday menus are set in stone. This is a great candidate to serve on Christmas morning and if you have an electric mixer you'll find this yeasted coffee cake is very easy to make. The cake is topped with streusel and a glaze that makes it festive enough for a holiday breakfast. The ingredients for the cake are combined and beaten until a shaggy dough forms. The dough is allowed to rise and once it has doubled in size it's scraped into a baking dish and covered with streusel topping. The pan is then transferred to a cold oven where it sits overnight. Come morning, the oven is turned on and the cake bakes for 30 minutes. That's all there is to it, but the end result is a sweet and buttery cake that looks and tastes like it has come from a high-end bakery. I drizzle the still warm cake with a glaze to further improve its appearance, but this step is really not necessary. I have one caution to share with you. This cake is wonderful when it is served warm from the oven. It becomes less wonderful the longer it sits and the day old cake is quite ordinary. As far as I have been able to determine, this recipe was originally developed by Kay Smittle and her recipe can be found here. I suspect that those of you who try this recipe will be pleased with the results. It is hard to beat something that is both easy and delicious. Here's how the coffee cake is made.

Night Before Christmas Cold Oven Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup warm milk

1 package yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons) dissolved in 3 tablespoons warm water

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

1 tablespoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts

2/3 cup sugar

Glaze

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1tablespoon milk

Directions:

1) Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs, milk, yeast (with warm water), flour, salt and vanilla. Beat all of these ingredients together. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

2) When dough has doubled is size, pat it into a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. The dough will be stringy and sticky. You will find it easier to shape if your hands are damp or floured.

3) Combine sugar, cinnamon, melted butter and nuts in a small bowl. Mix well. Spread topping over cake. Stretch plastic wrap over cake and place it in a cold oven to rise overnight.

4) Next morning, remove plastic wrap from pan. Leave pan in cold oven. Turn oven to 350 degrees F. and bake for 30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. While cake cools, make glaze by mixing milk with confectioners' sugar. Drizzle over cake. Serve cake warm. Yield: 12 servings.

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