General Conference and Coffee Cake?

For those of you who don't know, General Conference is something that we Mormons do every six months.  It's basically a church broadcast direct from Salt Lake City for all 14 million + members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We listen to church leaders and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It's always the first Saturday/Sunday of April and October.

In any case, there are many Mormons out there who have traditions for General Conference breakfast.  Not that I have such a tradition but this past weekend I decided to make Mom's Piece-O-Cake Coffee Cake to devour while watching General Conference.  The irony does not escape me that I made coffee cake to celebrate a Mormon event.  Luckily, this cake does not need to have coffee to consume and enjoy it.  And, since I was the only one delighting in the wonder of the coffee cake, I made only half a cake so I wouldn't eat too much.  It was delicious.

This coffee cake has a history all it's own.  Where did the recipe come from?  I think there is only one person still alive who knows the answer to that question (maybe she'll share?).  Historically, my mom always made "Mom's Piece-O-Cake Coffee Cake" but she always changed the recipe around to suit her fancy which the majority of us kids didn't exactly love.  I don't think I had actually eaten the real recipe until I tried it out in my teenage years.  From that moment on, I was always requested to make the coffee cake (sorry Mom).  In intervening years, I have been called multiple times by siblings for the recipe.  While making Christmas plans, Easter plans, just visiting plans the coffee cake is always mentioned with my name in the same sentence.  Just this summer I was requested to make this delectable cake and, gladly, I complied.   

Correctly making this coffee cake requires a layering technique: first the batter, then the yummy brown sugary stuff.

Then repeat:

And that weird brown sugary stuff that looks slightly like...uh...well, I don't want to say; it melts into the nooks and crannies that makes this cake what it is.  So fantastic!  Watch you don't burn your tongue on that buttery, brown sugary deliciousness; I do it every time and enjoy it.  The coveted middle piece is highly sought after: good thing I didn't have to share.