The scent of cinnamon

(Food styling/karoline boehm goodnick; yoon s. byun/globe staff)

Laced with cinnamon, this moist coffeecake is an upgraded butter cake with a silky-fine texture, and a cinnamon-sugar mixture swirled into the batter before baking. It's a handsome confection, baked in a straight-sided one-piece tube pan, the sort of cake you can serve to family members in town for the Jewish holidays or to guests at a supper to break the Yom Kippur fast.

Begin with plenty of butter - three sticks. Cream it with sugar, add the eggs, and when it's time to add the flour, beat it in alternately with heavy cream (for extra richness). The batter will be smooth and lustrous and bake into a wonderful texture.

Drizzle it with a simple glaze that has a touch of cinnamon. But you need to do that while the cake is still warm. If it cools, an equally luscious topping is a shower of cinnamon-scented confectioners' sugar. - LISA YOCKELSON