Daring life admission coming…
I never used to like coffee cake.
Me, the queen of all things crumbly and streusely, did not like coffee cake. That mostly came from my long dislike of coffee itself, which only changed earlier this year when I started actually drinking it.
At first I wanted coffee so I could seem cool. Now I find it both irresistible and a little overwhelming — it makes me jittery, almost euphoric. One cup and suddenly I’m eager to take on tasks I usually avoid. I get chatty, helpful and oddly convinced I can conquer anything. It’s a strange superhero effect.
Maybe I’m still new to caffeine in coffee form — I don’t drink much of it otherwise, aside from the chocolate I seem to consume in alarming amounts.
The upside is I can finally walk into a coffee shop and order something that actually tastes like coffee, not just sugar and whipped cream. The downside is I now feel a little incomplete without that caffeine. The best news? My coffee cake has a companion at last.
Even if coffee makes me feel wired, I’ll happily pair a cup with cake. The things we do for love.
Last year I made whole wheat coffee cake muffins and admitted I wasn’t a fan of traditional coffee cake. A year later, things have shifted: I adore coffee cake as muffins, but I also can never resist a good quick bread.
Quick breads are the perfect disguise — they’re cake that masquerades as breakfast. Eat it in the morning and call it “bread” or a “snack” and no one ever has to know it’s really cake. It’s the most glorious loophole.
This loaf features a ribbon of pomegranate molasses folded into the batter. Pomegranate molasses is nothing like regular molasses — it’s a concentrated, syrupy pomegranate reduction with a bright, slightly tart sweetness. If you love pomegranate, this adds a subtle but distinctive note that makes people ask, “What did you put in this?” It’s optional, but when pomegranates are in season I can’t resist.
And of course there’s a generous, crunchy cinnamon streusel on top. Would you expect anything less? I wouldn’t either.
Pomegranate Molasses Coffee Cake
Yield:
1
9×5 loaf
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Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
cinnamon crumble
- 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons softened butter
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray.
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In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, oil, pomegranate molasses and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Stir in the melted butter.
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To make the crumble, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Use your fingers, a fork or a pastry cutter to work the softened butter into the dry ingredients until evenly dispersed and crumbly.
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Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle with half the crumble, then add the remaining batter and top with the rest of the crumble. Bake 55–60 minutes, until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then lift the loaf from the pan using the parchment and cool another hour before slicing.
Notes
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Eat it for breakfast. I’m making you.