Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake

This is my first submission for the Heavenly Cake Baker group!

Since we're empty-nesters, I know it will be necessary to actively seek out friends with whom to share, or I will double my size before we've baked our way through this book.  This cake was shared with our church preschool staff.  I decided to make 12 cupcakes - thinking that it would be easier for the teachers to manage whether they were eating it in the office or taking it to their classroom.

I was a little wary of the cinnamon in the streusel.  I'm not a fan of the Mexican chocolate with cinnamon, but I'm happy to report that the cinnamon just rounded out and added to the chocolate flavor without overpowering it. . . and I baked this before reading the Evil Cake Lady's comment about using Muscovado, so my streusel had regular ol' brown sugar.  I will watch for Muscovado and add it to my pantry.

The batter  came together easily. I did find that I was 1/4 cup short on superfine sugar, and I must confess that I made up the difference with regular white sugar without running it through the food processor to make it superfine.  The top of my cupcakes were rather flat; I think that might be because this is a coffee cake.  If I'd baked this in a bundt pan, I think the top (bottom as it's served) would be mostly flat. 

I dropped the cupcakes off first with Sarah and Christina first thing in the morning, and before 10 AM, Sarah returned my platter with a list of the following comments:

• Smell tantalizing
• Chocolate was just the right amount, moist for a coffee cake, not too sweet
• Not too heavy
• Very good! Love the crust
• Yummy - very good
• Buttery
  

As for me, I thought this was a great coffee cake and the chocolate streusel was a wonderful hidden surprise.

Unlike my other blog posts, as part of the Heavenly Cake Bakers, I don't post recipes from this book on the internet.  One of the reasons for this baking group is to encourage readers to purchase the cookbook.  That strategy worked on me!  After follow the group's baking adventures for a couple of months, I ordered a copy from Amazon.  You can too.