These brunch classics are best with calories left intact

SPRING is here, but with all the rainy weather lately, it's a perfect time to stay in and treat the family to a Sunday brunch. Two favorite breakfast treats are coffee cake and popovers.

We decided to do a little experiment on our recipe for Butter Coffee Cake, also known as Sour Cream Coffee Cake. We tested the recipe with a few modifications in an attempt to make it a little healthier. In place of butter, we used one of the new spreads that contain plant stanols or sterols and no trans fats; we used Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking in place of the sugar and replaced half the white flour with whole wheat.

The result was mixed. The coffee cake tasted good, but it did not rise much -- the texture was a cross between cake and bread pudding.

We consulted Joannie Dobbs, an assistant specialist at the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, who explained that people commonly think they can substitute reduced-fat products or use sugar substitutes in recipes, only to get disappointing results.

Often, substitutes will have very different chemical structures and properties -- especially for baking. In our case, the buttery spread and reduced-fat sour cream have more water in them than butter and regular sour cream, which added more water to the cake. Sugar in baked goods not only serves as a sweetener, but also contributes structure, texture, volume, height. In addition, the whole wheat flour weighed down the batter.

The lesson here? Don't assume that you can easily replace ingredients in a tried-and-true recipe and expect instant success -- it might take several tries with various modifications to get satisfactory results.

We didn't bother experimenting with the popover recipe -- that one is too good to mess with.

Butter Coffee Cake

» Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-inch pan.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture, alternately with sour cream. Pour half of batter in prepared pan.

To make topping, combine sugar with cinnamon and nuts. Sprinkle half on batter; dot with 1 tablespoon butter. Pour remaining batter over topping. Sprinkle top with remaining topping and dot with remaining butter. Bake 35 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan. Serves 12.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 500 calories, 26 g total fat, 14 g saturated fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 470 mg sodium, 61 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 36 g sugar, 7 g protein.

Mini Popovers

Using 3 muffin pans with 1-3/4 inch cups, grease every other cup (6 cups per pan). Place pans in oven and preheat to 425 degrees.

Put all ingredients into blender. Cover and blend at high speed 15 seconds. Pour batter into greased cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 18 miniature popovers.

Approximate nutrient analysis per popover: 40 calories, 1 g total fat, no saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 1 g sugar, 2 g protein.