Quintessential Coffee Cake

Quick to put together, this cake has a lovely texture—moist and substantial but still pleasantly light, with a rich caramellike flavor from the brown sugar. For ease, dependability and quick, homey goodness, there is no better coffee cake than this. The flour, butter and sugar are cut together until crumbly; then part of the mixture is set aside for a crumb topping. The rest is moistened with liquid and used as the base of the cake. The recipe comes from Susan Peery, an edi