Well, I probably shouldn't do this, but I've started another Blog. Like I don't already spend too much time at the MacBook. As some of you might have guessed, I like to cook and I love to eat. So I thought I'd share my recipes, humble as they may be and a look at "What's for Dinner at Our House." The plan is to be discovered by the Food Network for my cooking show, which hubby has titled: "Cranky Franky's in the Kitchen".
Am I ready for critics? Probably not. I know my instructions are not always clear or precise. Let me know if something doesn't make sense. Anyhow, if you're interested, check out "Dinner's Ready"
COMMENTS APPRECIATED

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Mom's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Made pizza for dinner tonight. See a previous post for a dough recipe.


While we were having pizza, the coffee cake was in the oven.  

Mom always called this “Jewish Coffee Cake”. How it got to be part of our traditional Italian kitchen is thanks to the wonderful “melting pot” that is our country. I’m not sure where it originated or even if is a traditional Jewish recipe. I guess “Sour Cream Coffee Cake” is more politically correct. (I suppose you can make this cake more “Italian” by using almond extract and slivered almonds; or pistachio, or hazelnut – Tonight I used orange extract and orange zest.  Oh! Now that sounds good!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ cup sugar (or up to 1 cup if you prefer sweeter)
¼ lb butter
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp real vanilla extract

Filling/topping: I always increase these amounts (more topping is better).
¼ cup+ granulated sugar or brown sugar
½ cup+ chopped walnuts
1 tsp+ cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350o
Grease a tube pan with shortening
Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl
Combine extract with sour cream
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs

Add a portion of the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, with a portion of the sour cream, mix together and add alternating dry ingredients and sour cream mix until all are combined and batter is evenly moist (it will be a very stiff batter). Do not over mix. Note: I have had good results mixing all the wet ingredients together and then adding the dry ingredients a bit at a time – same result, fewer steps.

In separate bowl combine sugar, nuts and cinnamon

Spoon half the batter into a greased tube pan, spreading it fairly evenly, then ½ the filling mixture. Add remaining batter, distributing it evenly and top with remaining sugar/nut mixture. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour - until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Mixing the batter
First layer of batter
First layer of cinnamon, sugar and walnuts
Out of the oven
On the plate

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