After just a couple of bites, my dad would say something like, “My favorite daughter has come up with another winner.” I was his only daughter.

At that point, Jim would most likely be on his second piece. I’m sure one of the reasons I love to bake stems from the enthusiasm and unconditional support of my early experiments in the kitchen offered to me by my dad and his best friend. I basked in the feeling of success that I felt when I watched those two men eagerly gobble up the treats I whipped up all by myself. I know there had to have been some some flubs along the way, but they always smiled and ate.

When President’s Day rolled around each year, I’d try to find a recipe that included cherries. My dad always looked forward to dessert on President’s Day.

I continue to create sweet cherry treats when we honor George Washington with a holiday. Whether he really did cut down the cherry tree or not, I still think cherries when I think George Washington.

Cherry-Chocolate Swirl Coffee Cake is based on a cake my mom and her friends used to make with a swirl of cinnamon and sugar and nuts. I used an easy-to-make filling of canned sweet cherries, dried cherries and almonds with some mini-chocolate morsels stirred into the mix. It’s the same filling I used in the Chocolate and Cherry-Filled Mini-Heart Tarts in an earlier post.

I know my two favorite tasters would have loved this cake, despite the flub. Yes, I must be honest. After the cake was in the oven, I discovered close to a cup of the sifted dry ingredients still sitting in the bowl on the counter. Grrrrrr. The cake still baked up nicely and tasted wonderful with a cup of coffee. But, what I’ve managed to hide in the photo is a little tunnel running through the cake. Tunnel of love, maybe? Well, that little tunnel didn’t effect the wonderful flavor.

I took the cake to a cooking class I taught last night as a little pre-class treat. Everyone smiled and gobbled it up in no time flat. I still love that enthusiasm and support.

Bake Cherry-Chocolate Swirl Coffee Cake this weekend. You’ll enjoy the smiles it creates.

Happy President’s Day weekend!

Cherry-Chocolate Swirl Coffee Cake

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 batch cherry-chocolate filling
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups sugar, beating well.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Batter will be stiff.

Spoon 1/3 of batter into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan. Spoon half of cherry-chocolate mixture over batter. Top with half of remaining batter. Spoon remaining cherry-chocolate mixture over batter. Top with remaining batter. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan and let cake cool completely on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Cherry and Chocolate Filling

• 1 (15-ounce) can pitted sweet cherries, drained
• 1/4 cup dried cherries
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate morsels

Put drained cherries and dried cherries into a food processor or heavy-duty blender. Process until mixture is quite smooth. Add almonds and process until finely chopped. Transfer mixture to a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. Transfer to a glass bowl. Allow to cool completely, then stir in chocolate morsels.Cover and refrigerate. The filling can be made a day or two before baking.

The thing about birthdays is that it’s all about the birthday boy or girl. The dessert is one that they choose, and that they love, regardless of what the other people in the room want. It’s their personal right, as the birthday person, to have their favorite dessert ready for them with candles and a room full of people singing happy birthday.

There have been some attempts to include more choices in desserts than only the birthday person’s wish. The half chocolate/half white cakes were a good start. The Great Divide Ice cream is another excellent addition to the dessert world. The assorted cheesecakes where every slice is different are another great idea. But what do you do if your mom asks for bundt cake, and you have a room full of people who like different flavors?

Actually this didn’t happen. My family all likes bundt cake and my mom did not demand any type of dessert. She actually just wanted me to make what was easiest for me (she’s so sweet) until I forced her to say something that sounded good to her, and she said coffee cake. I think she knew it was easy (she’s so sneaky) but it was something she actually really does love so it worked out. When I started planning out the recipe I decided to make the cake into four sections and use four different types of streusel, just to make things interesting.

But, this really would work if you had a crowd of people who were strongly opposed to almonds.

What I did was I took a normal sour cream coffee cake recipe, and I made regular pecan streusel. When I got to the part where I spread the streusel in between the cake layers before baking, I simply added other ingredients to the mix in four sections. Then, I put the rest of the batter on top, and put the remaining streusel on using the same method and putting the same toppings over the spot I had put them in the middle of the cake. I baked the cake like normal. When I flipped it over, I kept track of which spot contained which ingredient, then topped the cake with a little bit of that ingredient on it’s section so people knew what was in each section. Then I put the glaze on. It was magic.

As you can see, I ended up with a regular pecan section, an almond section, a coconut section, and a raisin section.

You want to know what everyone picked? I guessed everyone right.

My mom (the birthday girl) picked coconut. My dad and Brian both picked raisins. Christy (my sister) picked pecan, and I picked almonds. I’m all about almonds. Each of the 4 sections were picked. It felt like a huge success.

I’ll be really honest though, the actual cake was a little dry. It may be because I made it the day before the party, but I’m not sure. What I would do is make this recipe instead for Almond Streusel bundt cake and not the one I made. Or, you can take your chances and just make sure you eat it the same day. It was by no means bad, just a little dry.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with 4-way Streusel, adapted from Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Epicurious.com
Serves about 8

Ingredients
Streusel Topping:

• 1/2 cup granulated or brown sugar, or 1/4 cup each
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cloves (optional)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, grated coconut, golden raisins, or chocolate chips, or 1 cup any combination

Batter:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup granulated or brown sugar or 1/2 cup each
• 4 large egg yolks, or 3 large eggs
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Glaze (optional):

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F if using a glass pan). Grease one 9-inch square pan,9-inch Bundt or tube pan, or 9-inch springform pan. Line with parchment or waxed paper, grease again, and dust with flour.

2. To make the streusel: Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg if using. Cut in the butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Divide this mixture into 2, 3, or four bowls, depending on how many different streusel toppings you will be using. Stir into each bowl your pecans, almonds, raisins, coconut, or a mixture of each.

3. To make the batter: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Blend in the sour cream, vanilla, and zest if using. Stir in the flour mixture.

4. Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle with streusel keeping each streusel type in a well defined section. Carefully cover with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the remaining streusel, being careful to top each section with the right type of streusel so it matches the streusel in between layers.

5. Bake unitl the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 50 minutes. Set on a rack and let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Flip cake over and top with a tablespoon of each streusel topping over the section where that topping is so your guests know what piece they are getting. Serve warm or at room temperature. Wrap the kuchen in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

6. To make the glaze if using: Combine all the glaze ingredients, stirring until smooth and of pouring consistency. Drizzle over the cake and let stand until set.

7. Eat while drinking coffee or hot tea and talking with your family or friends.

Early in our marriage, Steve told me how much he liked my baked potatoes. Surprised, as they were nothing special, I asked why.  He said they didn’t have the little hard center like his mom’s did.  Turns out she generally hurried home from the grocery store, arriving at 5pm.  She scrubbed up the potatoes and threw them in the oven and turned it on.  Dinner was at 6.  Margaret was involved in her community, a bridge player, and mother of four, so all I can say is she did a great job overall.  But when Steve told me my potatoes reminded him of hers–well, I wasn’t thrilled.

Other failures followed swiftly–a casual adaptation of a potato cheese casserole was slop. Mayonnaise from scratch never emulsified. I was getting demoralized.  Cooking is a source of pleasure and creativity, so I needed to get back on the horse that threw me double-quick.

I pulled out the recipe for a coffee cake that I knew I could make with ease.  After a quick trip down the basement stairs for my bundt pan (all specialty baking items are in plastic bins below–some people have a wine cellar, I have a culinary equipment cellar), I assembled the cake.

Coffee cake

Favorite Coffee Cake

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling: 3/4 cup chopped pecans, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 Tablespoons sugar.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar and eggs.  Beat until fluffy. Blend in sour cream. Sift flour, soda, and baking powder.  Add flour mixture into mixer bowl, add vanilla and blend. Spoon half of mixture into a buttered and floured bundt pan.  Sprinkle nut mixture over batter.  Cover with remaining batter.  Place in a COLD oven, and set it to 350 degrees.  Bake about 55 minutes, until bamboo skewer comes out clean and dry.  Let cool a bit, and reverse onto a serving plate.  Top if desired with additional sugar and cinnamon.

This was a cake my mother would make on Christmas morning.  It has broken the *hex* and it never tasted better.  And since it goes into a cold oven, Margaret would have loved it too.

My inner six-year-old was alive and well on Christmas morning; I woke up briiiight and early. I stayed in bed as long as possible, but early to be, early to rise, I guess!

I started things off with a strong cup of coffee, and a big ole slice of my mom’s amazing German Sour Cream Coffee Cake. Probably the best Christmas tradition ever.

My mom, brother and I sat around the living room in our pajamas, leisurely opening gifts, chatting, and partaking in deeelicious Christmas goodies (3..slices..of..coffee…cake…later….).

Forget toys - Shadow loved the empty bags and wrapping paper.

I thoroughly endorse spending the majority of the day in your jammies.

Slippers and all.

In the late afternoon – we whipped up a batch of spinach squares and headed over to my dad’s for Christmas with his family.

Spinach and cheese baked together – you really can’t go wrong!

Slightly blurry - lame oven lighting.

Also went on a photo rampage…my brother was obviously thrilled:

Dinner at my dad’s consisted of honey-baked ham, a quiche made by my cousin that was so good, some herbed carrots, and the most amazing scalloped potatoes (Julia’s recipe, of course).

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season – whatever holiday you celebrate!

Now it’s time to think about the new year! Oy – I can’t believe it’ll be 2011 by the end of this week! Time flies…now…to think of reasonable resolutions.

Grandma Tommie comes for a visit

It’s hard to say when it happened exactly.  But at some point, Chef fell madly in love; some might say addicted, even.  In return, I began withholding—knowing that just a taste every so often would make him want it more.  Of course, I’m talking about my Grandma Tommie’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake, just one in my treasure trove of East Texas recipes that make an appearance on special occasions.  Honestly, I’m not at all sure that the Sour Cream Coffee Cake is one of my grandmother’s favorites—I don’t really remember her making it.  But the recipe was given to me in a bundle from my sister Paige years ago, and well, it just makes a better story here in Yankee land.

Like I said, I don’t pull out the white trash stops too often.  And in the early years of my relationship with Chef, an intimidating true foodie, I kept them hidden.  So I’m sure the Sour Cream specialty first debuted at a long ago Thanksgiving when our house was filled with visitors, and I knew just what to make to keep the hordes happy in the morning.  From the first bite of moist goodness of sugar, sour cream, eggs, flour, with layers of pecans covered in cinnamon, and of course, more sugar, Chef was hooked.

For no real reason, and despite the ease of the cake, I insist on making it only one time a year—the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  Over time, I’ve steadily resisted to making modern changes.  Grandma Tommie wouldn’t have known what to make of the Vegan Organic Sugar I used last year, and I wasn’t convinced it made the cake any better.  A few years back, to spice things up, I shelled out a fortune to an antique dealer in Fairhope, Alabama and carted home a turn-of-the-century copper bundt pan as a special gift for Chef.  He could have cared less—it’s all about the cake, stupid.  [note: Chef never verbalized this, just my own imagination a riff on Bill Clinton's winning campaign mantra]

This year, for one of the first times, there are no guests in our house.  But I’m still whipping up the oh-so-thick batter.  Because if I held out any longer, Chef might go looking elsewhere.

Grandma Tommie’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake

For the batter:

1 cup soft butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

1 cup ground pecans

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

The very thick batter

Preheat over to 325 degrees.  Beat butter and sugar well.  Add eggs, beating after each one.  Add sour cream and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and beat well.  This will make a very heavy batter.  Grease a bundt pan.  Mix topping ingredients together.  Pour, more likely, spoon less than half of the batter into pan.  Sprinkle with half of the topping mix.  Add remaining batter and then remaining topping.  Bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool briefly and invert on to a cake plate.

The chicken took two minutes to put in the slow cooker and was a real treat. There is even enough for Stephen to have for lunch tomorrow.

I even had enough time to make a cake for dessert.

This recipe is quick to do up and always works well. I sometimes put half the batter in a bundt pan and then add a layer of cinnamon and sugar for a streusal cake but it is lovely if you add fruit to it (blueberries or raspberries especially).

Cream together; 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup cream cheese and 10 T. of butter.

Add; 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 cups flour and 1 cup of sour cream.

Bake at 330 for approx. 30 minutes.

Tonight’s dinner

It is book club tonight but I need to spend a even more time getting ready to meat the architect and I want to have everything cleaned-up before everyone gets here so we`re having pulled pork sandwiches.

All you do is place in the slowcooker (shocker); a pork shoulder roast, 2 cups of brown sugar, 2 tsp. chili powder, 2 garlic cloves chopped, half a cup of cider vinegar plus a bit of salt and pepper. Let it cook all day from frozen and serve with a nice cole slaw.

As mentioned it is book club tonight (but the architect prep is even more scary) and we always have lots of treats. I thought I would give these great sounding cookies a try.

http://www.culinarymuse.com/2005/01/recipe_chocolat.html

Chocolate and Sea Salt Cookies yield: 30

3 cups chocolate chips or your favorite premium dark chocolate chopped into small chunks

¼ c (2 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ c flour

¼ tsp baking powder

1 ½ c chopped walnuts

Maldon Sea Salt (fleur de sel)

1.Place 1 1/3 cups of chocolate chunks in a bowl and melt in microwave or over a double boiler.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Set aside. Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside.

3. Once chocolate has melted, stir in butter until completely incorporated. Add brown sugar, egg and vanilla mixture, mixing well. Add the flour mixture, mixing until smooth.

4. Stir in remaining chocolate chunks and chopped walnuts. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a small ice cream scoop (capacity about a heaping tablespoon), scoop on to a greased baking sheet. Flatten with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle generously with fleur de sel then pat in gently. Bake on middle rack of oven for 13-14 minutes. Remove from oven. Rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool.

I love hearing from you. Leave a comment-make my day.

Ingredients
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts in a small bowl. Set aside
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixer bowl. Add butter, sour cream and vanilla. Mix for about 1 minute. Scrape down bowl and add eggs, one at a time. Mix for about 1 minute.

Spread half of batter in a greased and floured pan. I used a 9 inch spring form pan for this one. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Spread remaining batter on top and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar.
Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes

Yum! Had to have a bite.

I wish I could claim credit for some great plan that brought this to our table, but really it was kind of an accident.  I had to make a run to Costco (our beloved warehouse club) in the week before Easter, and the only thing that I needed outside of the Costco errand was a tub of sour cream.  I made a quick calculation:  take the already-tired toddler to another store to buy sour cream, or spend an extra dollar or two on a tub of sour cream large enough for us to bathe in.  If you are a parent, you probably guessed correctly:  we are now the proud owners of approximately 5 gallons of sour cream.  The coffee cake recipe calling for 1 1/4 cups of sour cream virtually screamed out from the pages of the cookbook, and a new tradition was born.

• The cup of English tea (nothing fancy – PG Tips) and fresh double chocolate chip hazelnut biscotti that is accompanying it as I type this.

• Nick Drake

• Sour cream coffee cake, fresh out of the oven and HOT CROSS BUNS from the bakery where I work – they are truly heavenly.

• Modern Family and the Spilled Milk podcast, because they make me laugh tremendously

• The Food Network’s new show, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”

• Hot Yoga.  Why I (and anyone else for that matter) would voluntarily choose to subject themselves to 90 minutes of strenuous stretching and poses in an 105 degree room, crowded with half-naked people who are literally dripping sweat from head to toe, for an entire 90 minutes is beyond me. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done (so far).  However, I went again today (my second time) and walking out of that studio and into the refreshing cool spring evening, and the way I felt afterwards, my skin glowing and feeling empowered and new made it worth every minute.  I find myself wanting to go back very soon (if my poor joints allow it)!

• How lovely the weather has been lately, the bradford pear trees in bloom and the fact that I can wear flip flops again and liberate my happy toes and feet.

• The song “Where the Road Meets the Sun” – by Katie Herzig and Matthew Perryman Jones

• I am excited about the idea of visiting the farmer’s market, grilling, eating outside, going strawberry picking, and making crumbles, cobblers, crisps and pies and very soon.  I absolutely love spring and summer recipes.  I can’t wait for peach season, corn on the cob, blackberries and cherries.  I long for this time of year, especially since I don’t live in California or France and don’t have access to a farmer’s market all year-round.  It’s hard enough trying to find wild-caught fish around here!  This is totally the kind of thing that sells me the most on moving to Europe.  I’d do it in a heartbeat, just for the markets.

• Homemade pizza with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and caramelized red onions – (thank you Ree Drummond).  This is my new favorite pizza.  Really, it’s amazing.  I also adore Ree’s sense of humor and her shameless love for good (not necessarily so healthy) food.  Her blog is one of my favorites and I love her step by step photo tutorials she posts with each recipe.  She’s a cool chick.

Now it’s time to do some flipping (through my boyfriend’s old issues of Gourmet, Food and Wine, and Bon Appetit).  Can I just say how awesome I think it is that he even has these in his possession?

With the impending snow, might I suggest whipping up some kind of coffee cake for evening coffee or tea. Trust me, it will make the snow hauling that much easier.

The other week, my Mum and I got together and baked a blueberry sour cream coffee cake with a brown sugar pecan topping. One word: incredible. One phrase: party in thy mouth.

You can find lots of delicious coffee cake recipes on the internet; some with blueberries, too.

Be sure to use those little baby Maine blueberries–they are the best, and brilliantly, they are available in your grocery freezer case most often during those cold winter months. Remember! Fold them in gently so they don’t get smushed in the batter.

(Well, that made me nervous, too.)  Anyway, doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it?  For me…  it is.  I take down the 400 pound Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  What a beauty.  I’ve probably had it 10 years and used it about 10 times, 6 of those for whipped cream.  I’m telling you, that thing whips the hell out of some cream.  I can do that.  What I can’t do is mix up a batter.  I made the topping and a chocolate cinnamon swirl mix.  That was easy.

Then came the batter.  (Oops, forgot to set the timer for another 20 minutes before I have to turn the pan again.  Does it seem weird that I’m opening the oven and fooling with this pan so much?  Seems weird to me.)  Back to the batter.  Sounded really simple.  Not.  The high point was when I coated my coffee maker, the floor, the counter, the stove top and a knife block holding about 15 knives with a shower of flour.  Let’s just say I don’t really know how to use this mixer.  Why can’t the recipe say, “turn it up gradually” or “8 is a little high for adding flour”?  My boxer, Maxine, helped out by licking up most of the flour on the floor.  I guess it would be uncool to hand down the coffee maker, huh? 

I’m doomed.  I’m sure I over-mixed the stuff.  The recipe said something about pouring the batter.  The batter I made ain’t pouring.  Spreading, maybe.  No pouring.  Maybe I should have tried scones or something.

So, now it’s cooking.  Why did I decide to do this?  Why don’t I just leave the baking to Hubbard? 

You know, when I bought the big mixer, Hub said, “But, you don’t bake.”  My justification was that it would inspire me to bake.  Why do I make up this crap?  I should have just said that I wanted it and I was going to buy it no matter whether I used it or not.  That, he might have believed.  He doesn’t even use it.  Hubbard uses a handheld mixer. 

Maybe there’s a book out there somewhere that is all about the stupid mistakes you’ll make if you don’t have any sense about baking.  I need that book.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.  Those tenderloin steaks I bought this morning will surely make me feel better when I have to trash this coffee cake.  Some success would really be helpful right now.  I hate it when stuff sucks.

******

Not looking very hopeful, is it?  Looks, I don’t know… brown.  It doesn’t smell burned.  That’s something.  30 minutes to cool and then I can see what’s going on inside…

*******

I don’t believe it it.  It looks normal.  It even tastes good.  It’s moist.  Maybe too moist by the time you get to the center of the thing.  But, who cares?  We’ll never eat it all anyway.  Wow.  

And you guys were worried it wouldn’t turn out well…

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
(Source: Barefoot Contessa)

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks)butter at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1½ teaspoons  vanilla extract
1¼ cups sour cream
2½ cups  flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

For the streusel:

¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
¾ cup chopped walnuts, optional

For the glaze:

½ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.

Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.

Well, now I feel like I should post a SUPER good recipe! and I will.

This recipe comes from a family-made cookbook on my Mom’s side, so it’s full of delicious Dutch recipes, and some other fun things.  It’s a sour cream coffee cake, with the standard brown sugar/cinnamon layer inside. I still remember the first time I made this cake. I was in grade 3 and my Oma was coming to visit us from B.C. And when my Oma comes over, that means a lot of tea will be made. (I’m somewhat of a tea granny myself, can’t get enough of the stuff.) I wanted to make something for us to have after dinner with our tea while we were playing Scrabble. I pulled out the cookbook that I had never really noticed before, and found this recipe. Even though it’s a “coffe cake”, I figured it would still be good with tea! And it was. Everyone loved it! It’s a really moist cake, not too sweet, and the perfect texture a coffee cake should be (according to me anyways!).

Sour Cream Coffee Cake:

1/4 c  margarine
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 c sour cream

1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream the butter, and then add the sugar. Add the eggs in one at a time, making sure everything is fully mixed together. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Then alternately add the dry ingredients and sour cream to the butter/sugar mixture.

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle half of the mixture into a greased tube pan, then add half of the batter and spread carefully and evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on that and cover with the remaining batter. (If you really wanted to, you could make a little extra topping and sprinkle it on the top, which becomes the bottom anyways.)
Bake in a 350°F oven for 40-45 minutes in the lower third of the oven until a toothpick or thin knife comes out clean. You can eat it right out of the oven or room temperature! It’s awesome either way.

My favourite thing about it is that the brown sugar sprinkled on the bottom of the pan makes a sweet and crunchy crust on the outside of the cake. I love it!

Eet Smakelijk!

This recipe comes from a family-made cookbook on my Mom’s side, so it’s full of delicious Dutch recipes, and some other fun things.  It’s a sour cream coffee cake, with the standard brown sugar/cinnamon layer inside. I still remember the first time I made this cake. I was in grade 3 and my Oma was coming to visit us from B.C. And when my Oma comes over, that means a lot of tea will be made. (I’m somewhat of a tea granny myself, can’t get enough of the stuff.) I wanted to make something for us to have after dinner with our tea while we were playing Scrabble. I pulled out the cookbook that I had never really noticed before, and found this recipe. Even though it’s a “coffe cake”, I figured it would still be good with tea! And it was. Everyone loved it! It’s a really moist cake, not too sweet, and the perfect texture a coffee cake should be (according to me anyways!).

Sour Cream Coffee Cake:

1/4 c  margarine
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 c sour cream

1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream the butter, and then add the sugar. Add the eggs in one at a time, making sure everything is fully mixed together. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Then alternately add the dry ingredients and sour cream to the butter/sugar mixture.

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle half of the mixture into a greased tube pan, then add half of the batter and spread carefully and evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on that and cover with the remaining batter. (If you really wanted to, you could make a little extra topping and sprinkle it on the top, which becomes the bottom anyways.)
Bake in a 350°F oven for 40-45 minutes in the lower third of the oven until a toothpick or thin knife comes out clean. You can eat it right out of the oven or room temperature! It’s awesome either way.

My favourite thing about it is that the brown sugar sprinkled on the bottom of the pan makes a sweet and crunchy crust on the outside of the cake. I love it!

I give this recipe 5 Pastry Mice out of 5!

Eet Smakelijk!

(that’s like “bon appétit” in Dutch!)

♥Taro