by Sandra Merville Hart

I recently baked this coffee cake for a gathering at church. It’s a breakfast cake that I used to make often. It received lots of compliments. One person went back for a third piece!

Cake Ingredients

1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 large oranges (will use zest and juice)

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup butter

1 egg, slightly beaten

½ teaspoon orange extract (optional)

¼ cup milk

¼ cup orange juice (from the orange)

Topping Ingredients

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon orange zest

¼ cup butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray.

Sift the flour into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, thoroughly mix ¾ cup sugar with the butter until well-blended. (Pastry blenders work well for this.) Beat 1 egg and stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in the orange extract.

Zest both oranges. You’ll need a teaspoon for the batter—if it’s more, that’s even more citrus flavor. 😊 Add the zest to the batter. (You’ll use the rest in the topping.)

Quarter the oranges to squeeze out the juice. You need ¼ cup for the recipe. Add milk or store-bought orange juice to make a ¼ cup if it’s a bit under. Stir the juice into the batter.

Add ¼ cup milk and stir until blended.

Stir in the reserved flour mixture. If it’s a little dry, add another tablespoon of milk. Pour the batter into the prepared dish.

Now for the topping…

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, flour, orange zest, and cinnamon. Add the butter and blend thoroughly. Crumble this mixture over the batter. It should cover it.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 – 35 minutes.

The orange zest in both the batter and the topping gives a nice citrusy flavor. If it’s too strong for your taste, omit the zest from the topping.

Enjoy!