Buttery, crumbly cake, usually spiced with cinnamon, and topped with buttery, crunchy crumbs. Sometimes with a hint of cocoa running through the cake, sometimes not. Always that light, but rich cake crumb. Is there anything more comforting than the concept of coffee cake? An entire cake, made of nothing more than butter, sugar, flour, eggs, spices, etc, which exists not for any reason other than to accompany a cup of coffee. That humanity deemed it so necessary for this hot, dark, bitter beverage to have an accompaniment is incredibly reassuring to me.

The idea of a coffee break being important crops up in so many places around the world. The Swedish have their Fika, the Danes have hygge, the Brits have their tea break, the Japanese their tea ceremony, Austrians have a grand tradition of coffee houses, as do the French, and Italians probably couldn’t function without their syrupy cups of espresso. In Greece the coffee is perhaps even stronger, and accompanied by a sugary-sweet pastry, the Turks seem to have introduced their coffee to half of southern Europe, spreading to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Egypt, Syria and plenty of other places as well. In India they drink Chai, black tea in Sri Lanka, in China fine green or white teas.

Geo-political and philosophical differences aside, it’s not hard to imagine people in any part of the world needing a minute. Coffee is the perfect excuse for that. It’s the perfect thing to turn to when you just need to take a minute to either turn your mind to a particular problem, or turn your brain off completely. Either way, totally legitimate if there is a mug of something hot in your hand. And in my opinion, your other hand needs to be doing something too. Why not holding a donut?

These coffee cake donuts are perfect alongside a coffee, since they star sweet cinnamon, nutmeg and cocoa, who all play very nicely with a latte. The base is a simple, buttery classic coffee cake, heady with cinnamon, and the streusel is a crunchy rubble of cocoa. These are a baked donut, too, so a healthy choice to start the week (WINK). I love the combination of chocolate and cinnamon, because it seems very old-world and comforting to me. And a little old world comfort and a damn break is just exactly what I need this Monday!

xx Sarah.