[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

This is breakfast for people with a big appetite and a bigger sweet tooth. That is to say, people like me. But let's start at the bottom: the base of this coffee cake is delicious—big chunks of peaches are suspended in a fluffy vanilla crumb. It's light and moist and a very sensible little coffee cake with which to start your morning.

The topping is where things gets serious.

For whatever reason (alliteration, a momentary sugar low, my coming trip to New Orleans) I decided I wanted the crumb on my peach coffee cake to mimic the flavors of praline. The result is an extra thick layer of crusty, buttery, brown sugar coated pecans flecked with salt. If you're like me, you'll find yourself eating away the bottom of the coffee cake and saving the topping for last. This praline is just what you want in a cake topping candy hybrid: crunchy and nutty and salty and sweet. I almost asked myself, why bother with the bottom half? But then I cut another slice and remembered, "mmm, peaches."

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Peach Praline Coffee Cake »