coffee cake

It started thunder-storming here a few hours ago. I used to not like them. When I was a kid, I had this Little Mermaid (I'm pretty sure it was Little Mermaid) wrist watch for a little while. I left it in my friend's sandbox by accident, and it rained that night and killed the watch. After that, I had this sense of having left something perishable in the rain every time it stormed.

Nowadays storms are more fun. They are a reason to turn off my computer and think of other things to do. Tonight, I quilted for a little bit (I know, I should have been doing homework), and then made a coffee cake, which turned out soooo yummy. It's from Mom's old Quick Breads, Soups and Stews book, by Mary Gubser. (Credit where credit is due!)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Filling:

½ cup brown sugar, packed

⅓ cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ cup cold butter, cut in pieces

1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray with cooking oil or whatever suits your fancy.

For the filling: Combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a food processor. With metal blade, pulse until ingredients are mixed. Add cold butter and process until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. (My mixture did not resemble coarse cornmeal. :P) Transfer to bowl and stir in chopped nuts! Set aside.

For the cake: Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside. (Hehe, my filling looks like turkey stuffing in black and white)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar. Beat until "light and fluffy." Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add dry ingredients and sour cream to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down sides and beat until creamy. (This is such a pretty batter.)

Stir in vanilla and mix well.

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle filling over the batter - all the filling!

Pour second half of the batter over the filling, spread it evenly. It can be a little tricky to spread with the filling wanting to stick, but it's not a huge deal if there are some exposed bits. 

Bake for about 40 minutes, check to see if it's done. The book says it may need another ten, depending on ovens. 

Remove cake to wire rack, let cool for 10 minutes, then pop it out of the pan.

This turned out DELICIOUS. Seriously, it was soooo good. Try it.