Quick Coffee Cake

Recipe No. 41 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Breads. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

• Flour, sifted — 3½ pounds (3½ No. 56 dippers)
• Sugar, granulated — 3 pounds (1½ No. 56 dippers)
• Baking powder — 2½ ounces (7 mess kit spoons)
• Salt — 1 ounce (2 mess kit spoons)
• Milk, evaporated — 1½ — 14½-ounce cans
• Water (for milk) — 1¾ pints (⅞ No. 56 dipper)
• Eggs, beaten — 10 eggs (½ No. 56 dipper)
• Shortening, melted — 1 pound (½ No. 56 dipper)
• Butter, melted — ½ pound (¼ No. 56 dipper)
• Sugar, brown — 1½ pounds (¾ No. 56 dipper)
• Flour, sifted — 4 ounces (⅓ mess kit cup)
• Cinnamon — 1 ounce (4 mess kit spoons)

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Cinnamon · Evaporated Milk

1. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
2. Mix milk and water; add beaten egg.
3. Combine dry ingredients, milk mixture, and shortening. Stir only until liquid and dry ingredients are combined. Avoid overmixing.
4. Spread mixture in greased baking pans.
5. Mix melted butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together. Stir until a crumb-like mixture is obtained. Sprinkle over dough in baking pans.
6. Bake in moderate oven (375° F.) about 25 minutes.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Flour, sifted — 4½ oz Sugar, granulated — 3¾ oz Baking powder — about 1¼ tsp Salt — about ½ tsp Milk, evaporated — ½ can (14½ oz) Water (for milk) — 4½ tbsp Eggs, beaten — ¾ eggs Shortening, melted — 1¼ oz Butter, melted — ⅔ oz Sugar, brown — 2 oz Flour, sifted — about 2 tsp Cinnamon — about ½ tsp

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 41, Breads. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.