Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Toasted Pecan Filling

This is yet another of the recipes from my 30 days of new foods. This was a definite keeper, and again, came from Fine Cooking magazine. You can link to the recipe below, and underneath this post, I included my original review.

• 1 Tbs. softened unsalted butter

For the Streusel Topping

• 2 oz. (4 Tbs.) unsalted butter
• 3 oz. (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 2 Tbs. light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. table salt

For the Filling

• 1 cup toasted pecans
• 3 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 3 Tbs. light brown sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Dutch-processed or natural cocoa powder

For the Cake

• 11-1/4 oz. (3 cups) sifted cake flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. table salt
• 10 oz. (1-1/4 cups) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 11-1/2 oz. (1-2/3 cups) superfine sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 16 oz. (2 cups) sour cream

Tip:

Check out Carole's article for more information on superfine sugar.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F (325°F if using a dark nonstick pan). Generously butter a 10-inch tube pan with a removable bottom.

Make the topping: In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until almost melted. Remove from the heat and cool to tepid. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pecans, both sugars, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and stir with a fork. Add the flour mixture to the butter and stir until evenly moistened and crumbly.

Make the filling: In a food processor, pulse the pecans, both sugars, cinnamon, and cocoa 4 to 6 times to combine and chop the pecans.

Make the cake: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugar slowly, beating until combined. Scrape the bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending each one completely before adding the next. Scrape the bowl and blend in the vanilla. On low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the sour cream, adding the flour in four parts and the sour cream in three parts, beginning and ending with the flour, and scraping the bowl as needed.

Layer and marble the batter and filling: Spoon 2 generous cups of the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth with the back of a soupspoon, spreading the batter to the side of the pan first and then to the center. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the filling evenly over the batter. Cover the filling with about 2 cups of batter, dropping dollops around the pan and smoothing with the spoon. Sprinkle another 1/2 cup filling evenly over the batter and cover with 2 more cups batter. Layer on the remaining filling and then the remaining batter. (You'll have four layers of batter and three layers of filling.) Insert a table knife 1 inch from the side of the pan straight into the batter going almost to the bottom. Run the knife around the pan two times, without lifting up the blade, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Smooth the top with the back of the soupspoon.

Top and bake the cake: Take a handful of the streusel crumbs and squeeze firmly to form a large mass. Break up the mass into smaller clumps, distributing the streusel evenly over the batter. Repeat with the remaining streusel. Press the streusel lightly into the surface of the cake. Bake until the top of the cake is golden brown, the sides are beginning to pull away from the pan, and a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for at least an hour before removing from the pan. Check out our tips on turning out the cake.

Make Ahead Tips

This cake keeps at room temperature, well wrapped or under a cake dome, for up to 5 days; you can freeze it for up to 3 months.

nutrition information (per serving):
Calories (kcal): 500; Fat (g): 32; Fat Calories (kcal): 280; Saturated Fat (g): 16; Protein (g): 6; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 10; Carbohydrates (g): 51; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 3; Sodium (mg): 300; Cholesterol (mg): 115; Fiber (g): 2;

Photo: Scott Phillips

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/sour-cream-coffee-cake-toasted-pecan-filling.aspx

Coffee Cake earns a 9

I love coffee cake, but I hate how there is lots of cake and then a small layer of streusel topping. It never seems to be evenly distributed, but then I found this recipe, which called for the cake layered with a cinnamon sugar filling and then a streusel topping on top. It turned out awesome, but it made a massive mess. My kitchen was perfectly clean before I started making this, and when I was finished, here is what it looked like:

Seriously, this was such a project. You make the cake in a tube pan, so it takes double the batter. First you have to toast pecans, and then put part of them in the filling bowl, and part in the streusel topping bowl. The filling is basically pecans and cinnamon and sugar. So then you make a cake, and layer the pan with 1/4 the batter, and then you add 1/3 of the filling, and so on. The streusel topping obviously goes on top. But first you have to marble the filling throughout the cake. I swear this cake took me over an hour to make. And it bakes for 70 minutes and then cools for an hour before you even invert it and get it out of the pan. It makes a TON of cake.

But,it was really good, so I'll definitely make it again. Next time I'm using my old cake recipe though, because it doesn't call for sour cream. I couldn't even tell that this new recipe had sour cream in the cake, so I might as well leave it out. However, it was so awesome to have a filling throughout the cake.