Streusel Archives - The Candid Appetite

Let’s talk about cake for a second. Okay, I lied. Let’s discuss cake for more than a second. If I had it my way, I’d only talk about cake. All the time. That’s the only thing thing on my mind. If someone asked me a specific question or was talking to me about a completely different topic, I’d respond simply with “CAKE!” I’d just shout it out to them. Scream it to their face. Part of me wants to do it just because I’d like to see what their reaction would be. The other part wants to do it because I love cake. I wouldn’t even care if it made sense or not. Cake makes perfect sense. ALL THE TIME. In reality, if I could, all I would talk about is butter and sugar and cinnamon. Talk about a love affair. Those three ingredients have my heart. Forever and always, I’ll never say no to them. Butter and sugar and cinnamon together is the stuff dreams are made of. Put those three together and I kid you not, you could solve all of the world’s problems in one easy swoop. Seriously though, it would make the world a better place. Just imagine if criminals had a piece of cake before they committed their crime, they’d change their mind and wouldn’t go through with it. That’s how good cake is. That’s the power of the cake. I’m probably exaggerating a tad. I mean not all criminals would change their mind after eating cake. But I’m sure a select few would. I say, give everyone cake. Cake for all.

I’ve been on a savory kick lately, as you can probably tell from the last couple of posts. I mean sure, potato tacos are freaking delicious. I ate about fifty of them, and I’m not even joking. Okay, I’m joking. It was more like forty-nine. Calzones? Why not? Give them to me. On cold rainy days, panini and roasted tomato soup is sort of my jam. But with all that being said, cake (cinnamon, sugar and butter) well that’s just hands-down-no-contest, a sure fire winner for me. All I want to do lately is stuff my face with cake. Cake of all kinds. If you subscribe to the newsletter, you’ll have noticed the chocolate bundt cake recipe I included in it. Ate all of that without even a second thought. If you read the newsletter—which you should have by now because I sent it out at midnight. What are you waiting for?!—you’ll also know that it was my sister’s birthday this week. Of course I made her a birthday cake. It was a chocolate hazelnut cake with a nutella filling. Ate it. Stuffed the whole thing in my mouth. So when I decided to swing things back to sweet on the blog, the only logical thing to make and shoot and share was a cake. Duh. Cake for life. I immediately thought to myself that all I needed in life at that very moment was sugar, butter and cinnamon. So guess what…I made a cinnamon sugar coffee cake. I wanted it to be simple and yet a classic recipe that you guys would want to make. I hope you want to make this cake because let me tell you, it’s a delicious breakfast cake. I should make an entire cookbook of breakfast cake. I’d call it “Yes I’m Eating Cake For Breakfast And No You Can’t Have Any.” Or something like that, it’s a work in progress. It would give me an excuse to recipe test and eat nothing but cake for breakfast without people judging me. (Like my mom and doctor). I’d say, “I’m just working on the book. I have to eat this cake because it’s research!” We’d all have an excuse to eat cake first thing in the morning once the book came out. I’d be the reason every kid (and a few adults here and there) would be demanding cake for breakfast. I’m okay with that. I could live with myself. Gimme that cake.

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Spring break is over and you’re back to the daily grind. Your normal routine has once again taken over your life. Although you knew something so wonderful could not last forever, and you’d inevitably be thrown back into the necessary, you still can’t believe how fast your break flew by. It was too good to last. Why is it that when you’re at such places as work or school, time moves so slowly? Yet when encountered in fun situations, as in weekends and breaks, time moves so fast it gets away from us? You ponder this as reality sinks in. Gone are the days of waking up late and not following a schedule. Of not having to get up at a certain time to do something you didn’t want to do. Of being forced to be a grown up and make decisions you’re not ready to make. You take with you the moments of happiness when you had your full day ahead with nothing to do but to relax and finally enjoy yourself. A week we like to call spring break to make school bearable for the next month or so. Outings to the beach, picnics at the park, road trips with friends, gatherings with family, and random trips to the movies are now just distant memories from the past.

On the morning of the first day back to reality, you muster up all your strength and force yourself out of bed. Only the prospect of a full day awaits you now and you begin to tell yourself that you can get through anything. You must. So you lazily and half-heartedly pull yourself together and look at the calendar hanging on the back of your bedroom door. Searching for the next break, holiday, or vacation. You’ll settle for anything at this point. You scour the weeks, that make up the month of April, yearning for some sort of relief. With no luck in sight, you settle for the coming weekend and tell yourself that two days are better than none. You shower, get dressed, and prepare yourself mentally. See? This isn’t so bad. Suddenly you realize you’ve taken too much time getting ready and complaining that you’re running late. One last look, you turn off the light, and rush downstairs.

You ponder. Leave and begin the day on the wrong foot with an empty stomach? Or risk the chance of being a couple minutes late so that you can fill your tummy? “I’ll focus better and be more alert if I eat something,” you convince yourself. Searching through the pantry, cupboards and fridge you think of all the prospects. Cereal sounds good, with ice cold milk. But no, not today. You’d have to grab a bowl from way over there and dirty a spoon. Too many steps for your brain to process at the moment. You have more important things to focus on. Granola bar, now that’s fast and convenient. Nah, you don’t feel like being healthy today. “I’ll start my healthy choices tomorrow. Tomorrow for sure.” And just when you’re about to give up all hope and forget all about breakfast, the corner of your eye catches something. A crystal cake stand, that you’ve never noticed before. Or at least not recently. You walk slowly toward it marveling at the treasure inside. You lift the heavy glass lid and are instantly hit with the aroma of cinnamon and spice, and what you discern as everything nice. Why, someone has left this wonderfully smelling streusel coffee cake for you to devour. For you to enjoy. Now isn’t that nice? Help yourself. Don’t mind if you do. You cut a giant slice and rush out the door. Now you’re ready for school. Now you’re more than prepared to make it through the day. By the look of the cake, and the smile on your face, it looks like you’re more than prepared to make it through the week; cake in hand