Coffee Cake

May 17th 2011

You know usually when you invite friends over it means work. But when you have friends like mine - Krupa Sharath especially, I love it because she usually comes over with a new dish. And this is how I got to try this super duper coffee cake. It is so moist, it melts in your mouth. And the cinnamon and pecans - oh yum! 

I challenge you to make this and just stop at one piece. And though it says coffee cake, it goes perfectly well with coffee, tea or just on its own. It should be made in a fluted tube or a  bundt pan, but I only had this from when I made a marble cake, so this worked too :)

Time: Preparation Time ( 20 min), Cooking Time ( 60-70 min)

Difficulty Level: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup good quality Sour Cream
• 2 cup chopped Pecans
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Method de Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat granulated sugar, butter and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to sugar mixture alternately with sour cream, beating until well blended after each addition.
2. Mix pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spoon half of the pecan mixture into greased 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan; top with half of the cake batter. Repeat layers.
3. Bake 55 minutes to 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Loosen cake from side of pan with spatula or knife. Invert cake onto wire rack; gently remove pan. Cool completely.

Confessions:

• I was super excited to see how this cake came out and once I saw the top of it (which unfortunately will become the bottom), I hurried to take it out. PLEASE WAIT!! Allow it to cool completely else your cake will break, especially since at the bottom you have the pecan-brown sugar mix that will stick to the pan.  If you are a good cook does not mean one always follow instructions, we are impatient too :D
• Also I have doubled the amount of that filling because I felt the one with the original recipe it was not quite enough. However if you are the kind that does not like this too much, then stick to a little lesser quantity of pecans and brown sugar.

Source: Krupa Sharath - who in turn got it from here at allrecipes.com. Off late I have come to use this site a lot. Really nice recipes with a lot of reviews too.