Coffee Cake

I always wanted to experiment with coffee cake. So I used this basic recipe that I found on the site www.about.com but I forget which section. So I give the recipe below and my observations later on.
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1/3 cup butter
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda. Cut in the butter till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Combine egg and buttermilk, stir into the flour mixture. Spread into a greased and floured 8 inch cake pan (square or round). Now sprinkle the topping and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tsps cinnamon
2 tbsps melted butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Combine the ingredients and sprinkle over the cake batter just before baking.

The result was quite yummy. I felt this cake was more on the dry side and crumbly too. It did taste very light when eaten with a cup of coffee. The topping was delicious and crunchy. This coffee cake reminded me of the homemade cakes we used to bake in India. Those were not as moist or spongy as the ones I bake here. The cakes here are more reminiscent of the juicy, moist pastries that the bakeries in India sell. Whereas the homemade ones are more like this coffee cake.
On the whole a very satisfactory experiment with a simple recipe.

picture courtesy: flickr.com.No copyright infringement intended.