Posted on: Wednesday, September 22, 2004
RECIPE DOCTOR
A light rendition of a classic coffeecake
By Elaine Magee
Whenever I get to Starbucks after 9 a.m., they're sold out of their classic coffeecake. Clearly it's one of their most popular caffeine complements.
For this Starbucks series, I wanted to lighten up this classic cake not only for fat (the original contains 28 grams per serving) and saturated fat (10 grams), but also for calories and sugar. It's tricky, though, because you want to make all of these wonderful light changes, but you want it to taste as moist and yummy as the original.
So here's what I did to a recipe similar to what Starbucks might be using.
I switched to a no-trans margarine with less fat per tablespoon and reduced the amount. I used less sugar overall and added in a little Splenda. I used some whole-wheat flour and used less crumb topping. And I used only a tablespoon of melted margarine (no trans) to moisten the crumb mixture.
In the end, the cake is still moist, still classic — just a lot lighter in calories and fat.
Original recipe contains 570 calories, 28 grams fat, 10 g saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol and 2 grams fiber per serving.
CLASSIC (BUT LIGHT) COFFEECAKE
Crumb Topping:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9-inch square or round nonstick baking pan with canola cooking spray.
Cream 3 tablespoons margarine and light corn syrup with electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar, Splenda, vanilla, egg and egg white, and beat until smooth and creamy.
In a separate bowl, combine 3/4 cup white flour, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt. Stir or whisk to blend.
Add dry ingredient to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat on low just until blended. Pour into prepared pan.
For topping, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, 6 tablespoons flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir with whisk to blend well. Drizzle melted margarine over the flour mixture and stir with fork or whisk to form crumb topping. Drizzle a teaspoon of pancake syrup over the top. Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the coffeecake. Spray the top with canola cooking spray.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until fork inserted in center comes out clean.
Makes 6 servings.
• Per serving: 300 calories, 7 g protein, 53 g carbohydrate, 6.9 g fat (1.2 g saturated fat, 3.5 g monounsaturated fat, 1.6 g polyunsaturated fat), 36 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 400 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 21 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids .5 g. Omega-6 fatty acids 1.5 g. Weight Watchers POINTS 6. Elaine Magee's new book, "The Change of Life Diet and Cookbook," is available in bookstores. Readers may reach her through her Web site at www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses can't be provided. This column is distributed by Knight Ridder News Service.
