Cinnamon Swirl Quickbread
MAKES
One 9 x 5 inch / 23 x 13 cm loaf
TAKES
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total: 1 hour 40 minutes
✻ ABOUT THIS RECIPE
The cakiest recipe from my Happy Baking episode on quickbreads! Think of this like coffee cake loaf - an especially easy to make one! The cinnamon crumble topping gets sprinkled in the middle of the batter for a sweet stripe in every slice. It’s delicious all on it’s own - but you can finish it with a drizzle of the optional icing for a tasty slice with seriously cinnamon roll vibes.
INGREDIENTS
Buttery Crumb Topping
160 g / ¾ packed cup light or dark brown sugar
80 g / ⅔ cup all purpose flour
6 g / 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 g / ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
85 g / 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into ½ inch / 1 cm cubes
Cinnamon Quickbread
230 g / 1 cup buttermilk
113 g / ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
150 g / ¾ cup granulated sugar
56 g / 1 large egg, at room temperature
10 g / 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
240 g / 2 cups all purpose flour
6 g / 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 g / 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 g / ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
Optional Icing
56 g / ½ cup powdered sugar
15 g / 1 tablespoon heavy cream, plus more as needed
1 g / ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
All Things Quickbread:
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C with an oven rack in the center. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch/23 x 13 cm loaf pan with nonstick spray. Line the pan with a strip of parchment paper with at least 2 inch/5 cm of excess on either side (this will help you unmold the loaf later).
2. Make the streusel: in a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt until evenly combined. Add the butter, and use your hands, a pastry cutter, or two forks to incorporate it until moist crumbs form. Set aside.
3. Make the quickbread: in a large bowl, whisk the buttermilk, butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until well combined. Scrape the bowl well, then whisk again to make sure everything is homogenous.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to combine. Add this mixture to the buttermilk mixture, and whisk until evenly combined.
5. Pour about half of the the batter into the prepared pan, and spread into an even layer. Generously top the surface with about half of the crumb topping. Pour the remaining batter on top, and sprinkle the remaining crumb topping over the surface of the loaf.
6. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the edges of the loaf start to pull away from the edge of the pan, and a tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 60-75 minutes. (If the top of the loaf is becoming too dark before the end of bake time, cover the pan loosely with foil for the remainder of baking.)
7. Transfer from the oven to a cooling rack and run a small offset spatula gently around the edge of the loaf to separate it from the pan. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding onto a wire rack to cool completely.
8. If making the icing, whisk the powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla together to combine in a medium bowl. Add more cream until a thick, smooth icing forms. Drizzle the icing over the cooled loaf (if the loaf is still warm, the icing will melt and form more of a glaze - this is also delicious).
✻ HAVE YOU BAKED IT?
Tag @emcdowell on Instagram or use #happybaking. I’d love to see your bakes!
