Coffee Cake Gone Light

This is a recipe for coffee cake inspired by the amazing coffee cake Thomas and I had when we went to Charlottesville a couple of weeks ago.  Now, when I say inspired, I mean that I just started trying out different combinations of ingredients to make my own new favorite.  The one that we had while we were there, albeit amazing, it was anything but good for you.  Here is my own little rendition...

Cake:
1/2 cup fat free or 1% milk
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup egg substitute or 1 whole egg
3/4 cup regular flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar/splenda blend (1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup splenda)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract (maybe almond if you are feeling frisky)
(you can add apples to it too)
I always add a couple shakes of a Penzey's spice called Pumpkin Pie spice - it is the perfect blend of allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and mace

Topping:
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (again, I prefer the splenda/brown sugar blend you can buy in the store, so I just put 1/2 cup of it, not packed as it sweetens the same with 1/2 the amount...unfortunately it is about 4 times the cost of regular brown sugar)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp melted butter

Directions:
Beat the mild, oil and egg
Combine the dry incredients, add it to the milk mixture and beat until smooth
Pour into an 8 inch pan coated with cooking spray
Combine the topping and sprinkle over the batter
Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until a stick comes out clean.

 Before being baked....I took the spatula I used to mix up and apply the topping to fill in the open spots over the batter.  You could also take a knife and cut through the cake to get some of the topping into the cake for a bit more flavor.

 Right after being baked....really doesn't look much different.

It was still warm when I cut it, so it kinda fell apart.  The bottom part is more of a cake-like consistency.  There isn't all the butter in it that you normally find in coffee cake so it is less dense.  I like it this way because I really like coffee cake because of the topping....but that is just me.  I imagine you could add some butter to the batter to thicken up the cake. 

It is important when you bake with wheat flour to not use ONLY wheat flour....it gives whatever you are baking a funny taste. And it just doesn't bake right.

Anyway, enjoy!