Our garden didn’t do great this year. Partly because I over planted our raised beds and the plants didn’t have room to thrive and partly because Doug put bird feeders in our backyard and they attract both birds and deer. We got a handful of tomatoes and a couple of zucchini early in the season, but from mid-July on, we didn’t get a single zucchini. Fortunately, I have friends who were willing to share their abundant zucchini crops with me, and even though my garden didn’t do well, there were still times that my kitchen was overwhelmed with zucchini.
After we had eaten a lot of grilled and sauteed zucchini, I decided it was time to start baking. I love zucchini bread, and I also like to try new recipes. I was doing some internet scrolling and I came across this recipe for cinnamon sugar zucchini coffee cake. I made it for the first time while my in-laws were visiting in early August and it was a big hit. Everyone loved it, even Joseph, and the entire cake disappeared in less than a day. It’s similar to zucchini bread, but the layer of cinnamon sugar in the middle, and the cinnamon sugar on top really make it stand out. I’ve made the coffee cake a handful of times since then, sometimes just for us, and other times I made it to gift to other people. If you still have zucchini, I’d highly recommend making this recipe!
A side note: this recipe calls for buttermilk. I rarely have buttermilk on hand, so I make my own. I put one TBSP vinegar in a one cup measuring cup, fill the cup the rest of the way with whole milk, give it a little stir, let it sit for 5ish minutes, and then it’s ready to use. It makes a perfect buttermilk substitute!