Thanks @owasco!
Her dad's recipe didn't include those additions. She never cooks with fresh garlic, never uses parsley.
My spinster aunt went through every cookbook scratching the word NUTMEG out of every recipe. I guess Aunt Malita hated nutmeg, especially in sugar cookies.
My mother-in-law could not fathom anyone not sharing her love of black walnuts. She'd add them to Rice Krispie bars, sugar cookies, fudge, cakes of all kinds - and she never left half the item free of the nuts. Nope. That flavor dominated (destroyed?) everything.

When I'd make my mom's coffee cake, I would leave half of it free of coconut, the other half free of pecans, for the picky eaters in the house. Then I just started eating the whole cake by myself in two days. :) That was before age 50, when I could eat half a bag of M&Ms in one sitting. (Oh how I have been punished!)

Mom's Coffee Cake

Stir together one 8-oz carton of sour cream or yogurt (peach yogurt is my #1 choice), 1/2 cup oil, and 2 eggs. Add 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and do not over-stir (this is not like a 2-minute beating of cake batter). Pour into a 9x12 pan or a round Smartware rubbery layer cake pan. Top with cinnamon, coconut, pecans (or not). Bake 350* aprrox. 40 minutes or until a knife in the center comes out clean and the coconut is golden brown.

You can substitute apple sauce for half the oil, or all of it.

Without the real yogurt or cream, without eggs, without real flour, this cake just doesn't turn out. The knife never comes clean from the center. I've experimented with various blends of gluten-free flour, flax for egg, etc, and it's no use. Just, goodbye coffee cake, and pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting...