Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

By srumbel

Now I love the combination of lemon and cream cheese and have used it in other baked goods (Check out this Lemon Supreme Pie!) Lemon and cream cheese just brighten up my day! And with all these gray clouds during the winter months, starting the day with this little ray of sunshine really helps! My kids, husband and I gobbled this up first thing in the morning and boy did we start the day off happy!
from two-in-the-kitchen.com

Ingredients

• For the Cream Cheese filling
• 8 oz. of cream cheese (softened)
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 t. lemon juice
• For the Cake
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 4 TB. unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 TB lemon zest
• 1 TB lemon juice
• For the crumb topping
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 2 TB butter
• 1/2 TB lemon zest
• 1 TB lemon juice
• For the drizzle
• 1/3 c. powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 TB. lemon juice

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Make cream cheese filling by placing all filling ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated. Put aside.
Spray an 8x8 pan, or the likes (I used an 11x7 ceramic dish) with baking spray.
Make the cake by placing flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and stir together until incorporated. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until incorporated and the mixture is "crumb-y".
In a small bowl, whisk egg, buttermilk, lemon zest and juice. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and use a large wooden spoon to stir the mixture just until combined. (Mixture will be a bit lumpy)
Using the large wooden spoon, spread half the cake mixture on the bottom of the sprayed pan. Then spread the cream cheese filling evenly on top of that. Finally, drop the remaining cake mixture on top of the cream cheese layer and spread it evenly across the top.
Make the crumb topping by placing all ingredients in a medium bowl and , using a fork cut the butter into the ingredients until crumbs are formed. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top of the cake.
Bake cake for 40-45 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Halfway through, you may want to cover it with foil so the crumb topping does not burn.
Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes or so and then make the drizzle by placing powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and mixing it up with a spoon. Drizzle over the top and serve.
Makes 12 servings.