A Small Orange Streusel Coffee Cake

Here is coffee cake recipe which is just right for the holidays, “Orange Streusel Coffee Cake.” For a Louisiana twist, I am using satsumas growing on the tree in my backyard in the recipe. Coffee cakes are easy to make, they are tasty and the citrus flavor in this recipe gives a holiday flavor. As the cookbook author stated, “you can’t fail.” That’s my kind of cake. With a streusel topping, you don’t need an icing. This coffee cake makes for a simple “hurry-up” breakfast during the holiday season, a pastry for an afternoon break or a dessert for supper. Just add a scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped topping.

This recipe comes from Canadian author, Edna Staebler and her cookbook, “Schmecks Appeal.” I acquired Edna’s cookbook years ago while living in Michigan. Edna collected the recipes in Ontario, Canada, from old-order Mennonite farmers whom she befriended. The farms and recipes reminded me in a sentimental way of my own Iowa grandparent’s who had a small orchard on their farm. All of Edna’s recipes are excellent ones — they all turn out well — no need to adjust any ingredients.

Edna had a great fondness for desserts — cakes, cookies, pastries as well as fruits which were grown in the farm orchards such as apples and plums. In her introduction to the chapter on coffee cakes, Edna states, “I must have sampled over 80 coffee cakes this past year.” My, that is alot of cakes. She states that the recipe for the orange coffee cake is one of her best ones. I made her recipe as written except that I added oatmeal to the streusel topping.

Backyard Satsuma tree

My precious backyard Satsuma tree recovered from a severe freeze last winter well enough to produce several orange-type fruit. The Satsuma mandarin is a type of citrus fruit which looks somewhat like a squashed orange or a large mandarin orange. They came to the United States by way of Japan in 1876 thru the early 1900’s by George R. Hall who brought them to Florida. During this time approximately a million trees were imported. Although satsumas have been reported in Japan for more than 700 years, they probably originated in China. The fruit are seedless, juicy and have a wonderful orange flavor. Who would think that an orange tree could grow in Louisiana?

Well, perhaps I spoke too soon. This citrus tree tolerates the cold weather fairly well. Last year, however, was an exceptional year and we had a hard freeze with rain which lasted for several days. Unprotected trees suffered severe damage. My little Satsuma tree died back, but several of the branches survived and bore fruit this year. I am hopeful that we won’t have such a severe winter this year.

Making the recipe

This is a one-bowl recipe which is very easy to mix up. Here are the ingredients for the cake. It uses oil rather than butter and it does include milk. The batter includes both some of the satsuma juice and grated rind.

To prepare the batter, grate and juice the satsuma. Mix together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the liquid ingredients. Mix just until blended– there will still be lumps. Pour into an oiled 9-inch square pan.

Here are the ingredients for the streusel topping. Grated rind also goes in the topping. I included brown sugar and old-fashioned oatmeal in the streusel mix.

Blend them together and sprinkle on the batter. Bake.

That’s it! An easy cake to enjoy this holiday season.

Happy Holidays!

Orange Streusel Coffee Cake

  • Servings: 12 pieces (9
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients for cake:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Grated rind of 1 satsuma orange (or orange) or more
  • 1 egg, beaten slightly
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup satsuma juice (or substitute orange juice)
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • Satsuma or orange wedges for garnish, optional
  • Whipped topping or ice cream

Ingredients for streusel:

  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp grated satsuma rind (or orange) or more
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

Instructions and Steps:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 9-square pan.
  2. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in orange rind.
  3. Make a well in the center and pur in egg, milk, satsuma juice and oil.
  4. Mix just enough to moisten the flour — the batter should be lumpy.
  5. Pour into 9-inch square pan.
  6. For streusel topping: Cut together all the flour, sugar, grated orange rind and butter. ingredients. Add in the oatmeal.
  7. Sprinkle streusel topping over cake batter.
  8.  Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until slightly brown.
  9. Remove from oven and cut. Best served hot.
  10. If desired, garnish with satsuma or orange wedges.
  11. If desired, serve with whipped topping or ice cream.

Edna Staebler has passed away. The rights to her recipe books have returned to her estate of whom I was unable to contact. I am hoping that she would be pleased that folks are still enjoying her cookbooks!

Satsuma Reference:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/CH116

5 thoughts on “A Small Orange Streusel Coffee Cake

  1. I love an easy recipe where I don’t need a fancy mixer or bread maker. Question though: if you’re using pre-sifted flour, do you still need to sift it or can you just stir the dry ingredients a little to combine them?

    I wish we had that type of orange here in Maryland. It sounds delicious.

    • Hello, Thanks for visiting my blog. In answer to your question about the coffee cake recipe, yes, today’s flours are pre-sifted. The idea behind sifting the flour, baking powder and salt together is to distribute the baking powder and salt into the flour. You can also do this by hand — sprinkle the baking powder and salt over the flour and stir it around. Satsumas are very similar to mandarin oranges or clementine oranges or I’ve used just a small orange in this recipe. That works too. I like satsumas — love the flavor and they have very few seeds. Merry Christmas!

    • Thanks for visiting my blog! Yes, the satsumas are delicious! So sweet and juicy with almost no seeds. I am hoping we don’t have the freezing weather again this year. Enjoy the coffee cake. Easy to make. Happy Holidays!

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