Coffee Cake: A Delicious End to A Long Day

I decided to make a coffee cake because I was looking to do something that I had never made before. I love to bake, and I knew that a dessert was the ideal thing to make. Because I had never made a cake that used nuts as a very integral ingredient. I was really unsure of how it was going to affect the cake. Was it going to compromise the moistness of the cake? Was it going to affect the texture? This recipe had a middle layer of toasted pecans or walnuts and a streusel on top; it was just meant to be dry... The appeal was in the challenge.

It is not that the recipe was difficult, it just had many aspects that could have gone horribly wrong. The crumb topping was the first thing that I made. I began by melting some butter (real butter not margarine) and adding 1/8 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon and mixed well. I poured this over pecan halves and roasted them on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes in a 200 degree oven. I slow roasted them because they were previously frozen and I wanted to slowly release the oils in the nuts. Then I chopped them roughly, and began to follow the written recipe leaving out the chocolate chips; my parents did not want the chocolate in them, and I thought it would make a fun plate decoration. I mixed the brown sugar, cinnamon, roasted nuts, and the small amount of flour. I set this aside to mix the dry ingredients for the cake. I mixed the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a small mixing bowl. I set up my KitchenAid mixer (I feel that this is very important in any baking process because it seems to be the only appliance that mixes ingredients to the right consistency), I beat the butter (real butter again, margarine has too much water and will not work as well) until it was softened. I then added the sugar. Mixing until it was light and fluffy was the key to this recipe. It should have the consistency of a buttercream icing (like whipped cream just a bit heavier). Eggs were added one at a time and mixed very well after each. The vanilla extract was next, I always add a little bit more than a recipe calls for because it seems to add a tiny bit more flavor. By simply adding 1/8 of a teaspoon more than the recipe called for, I knew the cake would have a strong, but not overpowering flavor, and it would balance the cinnamon. The dry ingredients are added alternately in three parts with the sour cream. From my experience, sour cream instead of milk (or half milk and half sour cream), will make a cake richer while maintaining an exquisite moisture. In a nine inch spring form pan, greased and lined with parchment paper, I added half of the cake batter. On top of that I added 1/4 of the streusel mixture evenly. Then the rest of the batter, and finally, the rest of the streusel. I baked this at 350 for 35 minutes or until it passed the clean toothpick test.

After about 40 minutes, the cake was ready, the top was golden brown and crumbly (just perfect)! It had to cool, so I did not know what it looked like right away. When I took it out of the pan, the sides matched the top, it looked golden brown and I could smell the cinnamon and brown sugar. To serve it, I piped a chantily lace chocolate doily by tempering baking chocolate. Then I spooned some chocolate over the top of a slice. I had hoped it tasted as good as it looked...

The cake was great, it had just the right moisture. The flavor was kind of like a cinnamon roll, just with a cake texture rather than a donut or bread texture. Looking back, the topping was just a little too crumbly for my taste, I wanted it to be more of a coating rather than a dry topping. The next time I make it, I will leave out the flour in the streusel mixture. This should prevent the dry top. My family thought it was great, but then again, they never criticize my cooking.

Click here for the recipe!!!