Good morning. It’s still morning, right? Just barely. I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. We managed to make ours crazy busy (but fun!) We’ve been to parties, tried out a new restaurant (La Taq on Killingsworth – we liked it! Portland needs more Tex Mex), we went to an amazing Gnocchi 101 class at Lincoln with Jenn Louis, and we did a ton of errands. I’m also prepping stuff for next week’s Portland Food Swap – it’s been too long since I’ve been to one of these! I’m trying to check off a bunch of things that have been on my list for a long time, too. We’ll see how that goes

So of course, there has been a ton of baking this weekend as well! If we had a long weekend where we didn’t do some baking, well, you should probably send someone to our house to make sure we are ok.

I’m totally in love with this coffee cake recipe. It’s very similar to my cranberry coffee cake, but there’s chocolate. Enough said! Using Greek yogurt in the mix makes it a very soft, spongey texture. Exhibit A:

If that doesn’t sound good to you, I suggest substituting sour cream, which will have a more coarse result. Honestly, I can see the benefits of both – this cake, as written below, is VERY soft. It’s your call!

Here’s what you need:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
2 1/2 cups AP flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of kosher salt

For the swirl:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. cocoa

Topping:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cocoa
4 Tbsp. butter, softened a little

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs in one at a time.

Stop the mixer and add in the yogurt, vanilla and almond extract. Turn the mixer back on low and sprinkle the flour, baking soda and salt in. Mix just until combined.

Grease a loaf pan, then line with parchment paper with enough extra paper on the sides that you can use it to lift out the loaf after baking. Grease the inside of the parchment paper as well. Mix the sugar, cocoa and cinnamon from the “swirl” section above together in a small bowl.

Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan, spreading to make an even layer that fills the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the swirl mixture evenly over the top of the batter. Repeat with another 1/3 of the batter and the second half of the swirl mixture.

Finally, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa and cinnamon from the “topping” section and then add in the softened butter. Use a fork or your fingers to work the butter in, forming crumbs. Sprinkle to cover the top of the loaf.

Bake the loaf for 60 minutes. This is one time where because of the cocoa and cinnamon in the batter, there is no such thing as a clean toothpick coming out of this loaf.

Instead, make sure your oven temperature is accurate and allow the finished loaf to cool for at least ten minutes before using the parchment paper to lift out to a cooling rack. Allow another 20 minutes before cutting your first slice.