Ginny Bee Breakfast Cake

Well I am sure one thing that comes to mind is who is Ginny Bee?  Ginny Bee is actually the creation of  John Edwards.  Ginny is a citrus picker, mostly used for oranges.  Before Johns invention, there were other pickers on the market but they were plagued with the problem of  causing tree damage when harvesting. However, in 1976, John came up with a well functioning machine that did not damage any part of the tree or limbs.  With the tree damage not being an issue, his machine was found to be quite handy to have in the groves.  It could pick a 90 lb box of oranges in one minute, which was a real time saver.

This particular recipe is basically an orange breakfast cake.  The cake part has a citrus tang and is moist, having both sour cream and yogurt as ingredients.  Also, there is no skimping on the streusel-it is thick crunchy and has a drizzle of orange glaze.  Since we all seem to enjoy orange juice in the morning, I thought that orange in a breakfast cake would be a good way to start the day.

Ginny Bee Breakfast Cake
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Streusel
1 cup or 2 sticks melted butter
1 tbs plus 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Ingredients/Cake
2/3 cup orange yogurt
2/3 cup sour cream
4 tbs orange zest
1 tsp orange extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 1 1/2 sticks of butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Ingredients/Drizzle
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbs orange juice

To make streusel, stir together the cinnamon, both sugars and salt.  Then pour in the melted butter and mix until all is blended.  Then blend in the flour until no dry streaks remain and the mixture clumps together.  Set aside.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degress.  Butter the inside of a 9X13 baking dish.  Then line the bottom and along 2 sides with overhang.  Butter the face up side of the parchment.

Beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy.  Add the sugar, beating again until mixture is completely blended.  Add one egg and blend, running mixer for about 30 seconds.  Repeat the process with the other egg.

Put the sour cream, yogurt, orange zest and orange extract into the batter and blend until all is smooth.  Set aside.

In a different bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Then, in increments of 1/3, fold the ingredients into the wet batter.  Mix until no dry streaks remain.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth with spatula so bottom of pan is evenly covered.  Take some streusel into your hand and clump together, then sprinkle on batter.  Continue with the clumping and sprinkling until all the batter is covered.

Place in oven and bake for about 1 hour or when tester comes out clean.  Streusel should be a deep brown and be crisp.  Let cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes.

While cooling, you can prepared the drizzle.  Beat the ingredients together until the texture becomes a smooth glaze.  You can add more of either ingredient until you reach the desired consistency.

After the cake has cooled for 30 minutes, drizzle glaze on top.  Cake is tasty served warm as well as cold.  Use parchment handles to lift out of pan and cut into squares.

Tips and Notes:
1. I like streusel and the recipe here probably yields over 4 cups, so if you are not that big on this topping, you can cut down the recipe.
2. You can add nuts to the streusel if you want.
3. The topping is very crumbly, so it will be hard to get a clean cut..
4. Bake time is for a glass pan, other pans may have some variance in the baking time.
                     **LAST YEAR: Jamaican Coin Cookies**

Banana Nut and Dulce De Leche Coffeecake

I know, there is nothing here that says Valentines.  However in my defense, I have to say I had a few festive posts last week. Also me and the hubs already had a nice intimate celebration on Saturday, so even though it has not passed by on the calendar, Valentine's day has already ended for me.

This particular recipe I am very pleased with.  The cake part is fluffy and moist, bursting with banana flavor.  To add to that, there is crunchy pecan streusel on top that is finalized with a drizzling of dulce de leche.  The best way to enjoy this is served slightly warm. Cold or cool Dulce de Leche just does not have the save flavor effect on the cake as it does warmed.

Also, I wanted to give a shout out of thanks to The Purple Spoon for recently passing on the Liebster award to me.  I have been given this award a time or two but it always gives me a feeling of honor as well as happiness.  This particular blogger is involved in catering wedding events and is a specialty dessert wholesaler.  All of her talent is definitely reflected in her blogging as well.  A few of the treasures I found on her site are the Butterfinger Brownie Bars and the Lime Blackberry Meringue Cupcakes.  I am sure you are bound to find something inspiring on her site, so stop on over and meet The Purple Spoon.

Banana Nut and Dulce De Leche Coffee Cake
adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbs vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, softened and cut into cubes
1/4 cup of butter, softened and cut into cubes
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cup of flour
1 cup toasted chopped pecans
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 (13.4 oz) can of Dulce de Leche

Prepare a 9X13 inch pan by greasing and lining the bottom and two long sides (with overhang) with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together 2 1/4 cups of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Then stir in the granulated sugar until evenly distributed.   Using a pastry cutter, blend 3/4 cup of the cubed butter into the flour mixture.  Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, mashed banana, vanilla extract and sour cream together.  Then fold into flour mixture, making sure no dry streaks remain.  Do not over mix.  Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth it out so the batter is even.

In a small bowl, stir together remaining 1/2 cup of flour with the brown sugar.  Then cut in the last of the butter chunks (1/4 cup) with a pastry cutter until no dry ingredients remain.  Then blend in pecans, using clean hands or a fork.  Your mixture should resemble large clumps. Sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over batter.

Place Dulce de Leche in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat in microwave for about a minute, stopping and stirring about every 30 seconds.  Continue with that process until it reaches drizzling consistency.  I had a hard time getting it to that stage, so after about 2 minutes I just put it into a squirt bottle.  Drizzle or squirt warmed mixture on top of the streusel.

Place in oven and bake until a tester (poked into section that has no Dulce de Leche on top) comes out clean. Streusel topping should have just started to brown  Baking time is about 35-38 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool in pan 5 minutes.  Then pull cake out of pan with overlapping parchment paper and place on flat surface.  Cut quickly with a sharp knife dipped in hot water.  Knife should be cleaned and re-dipped at cutting intervals because of the sticky topping.  Serve warm. 
                 **LAST YEAR: Loca Luna's Turtle Cake**