Aunt Patty Was Here

Edited 1/19/10: The contest for Mad Hungry is now over. Thanks for entering!

Hi Knitters,

As promised I whipped up Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake this morning. The coffee cake recipe is found in Lucinda Scala Quinn's Mad Hungry, Feeding Men & Boys. I am hosting a giveaway for this awesome cookbook right now. I will let the giveaway stay open until Tuesday, January 19th. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post! Keep the entries coming! You will love this book.

In the background you can see some little legs just waiting for the coffee cake to cool. There were three kids waiting for me to turn the pan over so the coffee cake would pop out. They kept asking and asking when it would be ready. Mad Hungriness can even happen right away in the morning! Who knew?
It was perfection! There is a swirl of chocolate filling that runs throughout the cake. I didn't add the instant coffee in the filling because I wasn't sure if the kids would like the coffee flavor. Instead I doubled the cocoa powder to replace the coffee. It worked great.
Next, I whipped up a vanilla glaze to pour over the coffee cake. This isn't in the book but we all love a little glaze on our coffee cake. We're glaze people. The kids absolutely loved it!
My older daughter jokingly asked if I could make this every morning. The kids were all so quiet while they were eating and enjoying their breakfast. That is the best kind of review, right? It was a hit.
Here is the book version and behind is my version. It was so simple to make. I had the batter mixed together in a matter of minutes. The house smells like heaven from the baking. My kids and husband gobbled up the entire coffee cake in one sitting. Do you see why I need this book? We never have leftovers no matter how much I make. My husband made up some crispy bacon on the side. Sweet and salty.

Thank you, Lucinda and Aunt Patty! What a treat to have a warm coffee cake on this sleepy Madison morning. The recipe for Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake is now on my permanent keeper list as something to make again and again. Wonderful. You should give this one a try.
The shades of gray and creamy white make it difficult to photograph but we are in a frosty fantasy land this morning. The world is covered in vanilla glaze. The trees are coated in crystals and the air is misty. It is straight out of a storybook. My husband told me that he was watching the weather and they said the frost is a phenomenon called, frozen fog.
I had never heard of frozen fog before but it is so beautiful. I want to get out for a walk to fully the enjoy the magical quality of the trees this morning.

Have a good Sunday, Knitters. I'll be back soon with a winner of a copy of Mad Hungry in a couple of days. In the meantime, I hope you are finding some time to knit on this long weekend. I have been knitting up a storm. Can't wait to share.

By the way, the Sweetheart Washcloth and the Sweetheart Hat are selling like hot cakes. I can hardly keep up but that is a fun thing to have happen. Thank you!

best, susie