Recipe: Cinnamon Loaf Cake

One day I came across a recipe for a cinnamon loaf cake and I thought it was genius! I've always loved cinnamon rolls, but never attempted to make them as I thought (and still think) it's complex to make and knead dough (I'm not patient enough to try this yet, but maybe someday!) It was really exciting to know that I could make something close enough, so I gave it a try and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out! This recipe is so simple and easy to put together, and it will leave your home smelling yumm!

Here's how:

1. Bowl on the left (let's call it the Brown mixture) contains:

• Half a cup of softened butter
• Half a cup of brown sugar
• One spoon of cinnamon powder
• One spoon of flour
• A pinch of salt
• Mix all together with a spoon and set aside

2. Bowl on the right (the batter) contains:

• One and a half cup of sieved flour
• Half a cup of white sugar
• Two teaspoons of baking powder
• Mix with a hand whisk then add:
• A quarter cup of oil 
• Three quarter cup of milk 
• One beaten egg
• Mix with a hand whisk until you get a runny batter

3. Pour half of the batter into a loaf tin

 4. Use a spoon and get scoops of the brown mixture and add it on top

 5. With a chopstick or toothpick, loosen the lumps of brown mixture by making swirls, so that it spreads around thinly

 6. Pour in the rest of the batter and repeat

7. Put the cake into the oven pre-heated at 175°C. Bake for an hour

8. Just before the hour is up, you can start to prepare the frosting (optional). The one I made contains: 

• 110g softened butter
• 60g cream cheese
• 2 spoons of milk 
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• Mix with a spoon until smooth, then spread half of this on top of the cake while it's still warm. Keep the other half of the frosting for the future (sometimes you might want to add a little extra to your slice)

9. After about an hour, I took the cake out of the pan. The frosting hadn't yet completely set. I had a little slice of the warm cake, and kept the rest in the fridge. 

It was so heavenly having it warm! It smelt so good, the cake was soft and the runny frosting was just divine!!

10. After about an hour in the fridge (by then the frosting had hardened a bit), I brought it out to have another slice.

 I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! The cake wasn't too sweet, which is exactly how I love my cakes. It was moist and the brown mixture had just the right amount of sweetness and flavour. I really loved the cream cheese in the frosting. I felt happy to be able to make something that I often enjoy eating out (it's very empowering when you figure out how to make in your own kitchen something that you only used to get once in a while outside). These new skills definitely come in handy these days, given that our movements are still restricted (because of the pandemic).

The cake tasted like one of my most favourite sweets - namoura (a Lebanese semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup - probably the sweetest thing I can manage). The cinnamon loaf wasn't as sweet as namoura of course, but I guess the moisture inside it, and the denseness gave that namoura feel.  For the third time, the creamcheese frosting is absolutely AMAZING!