See that cake right there? 

It’s my childhood.

In a 9 x 13 pan. 

The cake in this 9 x 13 pan always seems to be a background presence in my memories of our family’s life. It’s there on Saturday mornings when friends slept over. On Saturday mornings shared with extended family. On Saturday mornings for no reason at all. On Easter for brunch. On Christmas for brunch. Yes, we were and still are a brunch-y people. 

It is, to my family, the ultimate breakfast dessert.

And it’s more than just our favorite breakfast dessert.

The warmth and care and love of my parents for me and my siblings is all wrapped up in the cake’s melty chips, its crunchy sweet topping, its tender crumb.

I cannot think of this cake without thinking of—and feeling—that love. 

Part of the beauty of this cake is how it can be adapted to meet the needs of those eating it. 

When my brother was vegan, the cake became vegan. Not quite the same, but it worked.

When my nephew developed food allergies, the cake became dairy-free. All the grandchildren now eat his dairy-free cake when we get together. 

When my non-chocolate-eating husband joined the family of chocoholics, half the cake was devoted to cinnamon chips. And half of us realized we like it better with the cinnamon chips. 

The cake, like familial love at its best, is flexible enough to meet our needs. It meets us where we are now as opposed to where we were in the past. It changes as we change as individuals and as we change as a family.

My mom did attempt some changes to the cake that were not well-received. Varying amounts of whole wheat flour were dismissed. The addition of half a cup of quick or rolled oats was welcomed by some of us, soundly rejected by others. 

Love bends, but it does not break. A memory evolves but retains its essence. We still want the cake to be the cake. 

Love and cinnamon sugar and melty chips (both chocolate and cinnamon) remain. In a 9 x 13 pan. 

My mom photocopied the original recipe from an unknown source decades ago. We’ve had some family debates about how to read the slightly illegible copy over the years with the happy answer being that many of the ingredient amounts can be changed to accommodate what you have on hand. I’ve noted what changes we’ve had positive results with in the ingredients list. Our family calls this “Coffee Cake” despite it having no resemblance to what most people call coffee cake. I suspect it was a way to make it seem more acceptable to eat it for breakfast. It would be a welcome addition to Christmas morning breakfast offerings, New Year's brunch, or any weekend breakfast needing a bit of extra love and sugar.

Hancock Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 - 1/2 cups granulated sugar (can reduce to 1 cup)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 - 1/3 cups sour cream (can substitute light sour cream, or 2% or full fat plain Greek yogurt. Can reduce to 1 cup.)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (can reduce to 1/3 cup, but I'd use the full amount of sour cream. Remember, it's still cake.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Topping:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, or any proportion of these chips your family desires

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and adjust oven rack to middle position. Spray a 9 x 13 metal pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place all the ingredients for the cake batter (flour through eggs) in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if using hand mixer. Beat on low speed for 1 minute, or until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 more minutes, or until batter is well-combined, smooth, and somewhat thickened. 

To prepare topping, place sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and stir together. Have your chips at the ready.

Spread about 1/3 of the batter over the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the chips and 2/3 of the cinnamon sugar over the batter (I use cinnamon chips on one half of the batter and chocolate chips on the other half to maintain a strict separation of chocolate and non-chocolate cake). Dollop remaining batter on and carefully spread so that it touches the edges of the pan. Sprinkle remaining chips and cinnamon sugar across the top. 

Place in oven and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The topping will be at its crunchy best the day the cake is made, but the cake will store well covered at room temperature for a few days (if it lasts that long). Yield: 12-ish servings, depending on diners' ability to consume sugar before noon.