It's been raining solidly for two days now and when it rains, I seem to drink more coffee than usual. To control my absurd caffeine addiction I like to offset it by eating equal amounts of coffee cake, so this Gingerbread Coffee Cake is the perfect solution.
If you gave me a choice between coffee cake or a donut I'd grab both and then sell the donut to buy more coffee cake, that's how much I like it! There's something about the not-too-sweet taste and the crunchy topping that just gives me a fuzzy feeling. I even made a powdered sugar glaze to drizzle over this gingerbread coffee cake, but pulled back before I turned it into a sticky sugary puddle. It just didn't need it, the brown sugar streusel gives it enough sweetness.
I can tell you're thinking this is just a regular gingerbread loaf and that I'm trying to pull some kind of fast one on you? I can forgive you for that, but trust me it's still in the coffee cake category. The difference is mainly the texture, gingerbread can be dense like a pound cake and usually has a sticky surface. This coffee cake is more sponge-like with a crusty surface and packed with butter and sour cream. I took my most favorite recipe, this Sour Cream Coffee Cake and tweaked it by adding lots of ginger and molasses. What I ended up with was a moist, crunchy topped breakfast hero with that molasses flavor that I love!
