Copycat Starbucks Classic Coffee Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Make topping by combining 1 cup flour with brown sugar, softened butter and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a medium bowl. Mixture should have the consistency of moist sand. Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans and mix thoroughly. Put bowl aside.

In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup butter, 3/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add this dry mixture to the moist ingredients a little bit at a time. Add half-and-half and mix well.

Spoon the batter into a 9 x 13-inch baking pan that has been buttered and dusted with a light coating of flour. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the batter. Be sure the topping completely covers the batter.

Bake cake for 50 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn light brown. Cool and slice into 8 pieces.

**Footnote:
To add a ribbon of cinnamon to the cake, double the topping recipe and reserve half of it for the ribbon (minus nuts if you like). Then pour half of the cake batter into your prepared pan, add half of the topping, make sure to cover entire cake, pour the rest of the batter on top and then top the cake with the reserved topping. This batter is very thick!!

Option: Dust cake with powdered sugar after cooled to give more a Starbucks feel!!

*** I just edited recipe, replacing milk with half-and-half..I will re edit this recipe as I will make my next batch to give it more Starbucks WOW factor – height, and a lot of topping!! This is only round one . . . Right now, I suggest doubling the recipe, using a springform pan (normal sized, for cheesecakes) giving enough space for baking, as well adding the topping 15 minutes after the cake is in the oven. You can double the topping here as well.