Swedish Batter Bread with Cinnamon and Cranberries . . .

My husband walked into the kitchen, spotted this newly baked item on the kitchen counter, and asked the question I'd been anticipating.

Him: "What kind of bundt cake is that?"
Me: "Um, well, actually it's not a bundt cake. It's called Swedish batter bread, with cinnamon and dried cranberries. It's made with yeast."

Him: "Really? But didn't you bake it in one of those bundt pans?"
Me: "No. It was made in a kugelhopf pan."
Brief silence.
Him, with affectionate sarcasm: "Ohhhh, of course. A kugelhopf pan. I should have known."

He loves to tease me about the odd minutiae of baking. The wacky pans, the loonier methods/techniques, the sometimes off-beat ingredients. And that's okay with me. I figure it helps keep me from taking all of this too seriously. I assumed he'd have something funny to say about this particular recipe, because this is one of those baked goods that's not easily categorized.

It has the texture of a hearty cake or maybe even a muffin, which I found kind of surprising. I'd expected it to be at least a little more bready. The flavor, though, was as I expected--nicely mild, not very sweet, but still cinnamony. Luckily, Andy (the hubby), really loved this batter bread. He munched it with coffee in the morning for a few days, and I tucked a little piece of it into his lunchbox. Yesterday, when it was legitimately stale and he found out I'd thrown the small remainder away, he pretended to cry. That guy.

About this recipe . . . 

Adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas (a wonderful book, by the way), this batter bread was originally intended to feature saffron and golden raisins. I toyed with the idea of using saffron with dried cranberries (I'm not crazy about golden raisins), but then realized I wasn't even in a saffron mood at all. I was in a cinnamon mood.

I also decided to refrain from sprinkling the finished bread with the recommended powdered sugar, and used cinnamon sugar instead. That was a good choice. I modified the method for putting this together slightly, used instant yeast instead of active dry, and added in a little nutmeg along with the cinnamon. I reworded the recipe to reflect all of my changes.

Swedish Batter Bread with Cinnamon and Cranberries
(For a printable version of this recipe,  click here!)

Yield: One 10" loaf made in a kugelhopf, tube, or bundt pan

1 and 1/2 tsp. instant yeast (or, 1 package active dry yeast, which you'll need to proof in the 1/4 cup of warm water below)
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt (I used fine sea salt.)
1/2 cup milk, slightly warm (Ojakangas says to scald and cool the milk; whether this old-fashioned scalding step is still necessary these days with modern milk is up for debate. In any case, use milk that's warm. I did not scald it first.)
1 and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (Freshly ground is best; do it yourself when possible!)
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached.)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar mixed with 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (to sprinkle on finished bread)

In the large bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the room-temperature eggs along with the salt, beating until smooth. On the lowest speed, add in the yeast, water, and milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk the cinnamon and nutmeg together with the flour, then add it gradually into the mixer bowl, still on the low speed. Raise the speed to medium, and beat for five minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl and beaters now and then.

Add in the cranberries on low speed, mixing until combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, place it in a warm spot, and let the batter rise until it's doubled in size; this will take about 1and 1/2 to 2 hours.

Prepare your pan by liberally brushing it with soft, unsalted butter and lightly flouring it, or use baking spray (if you use baking spray, be careful not to let it pool in the bottom of the pan. Before you transfer your batter from the bowl into the pan, use a pastry brush to even it out and make sure you've gotten all the nooks and crannies, especially if you're using a kugelhopf/bundt pan.)

When the batter has doubled, stir it down; it will deflate considerably. Pour all of the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top of the pan with plastic wrap and place it in a warm spot until the batter approaches the top of the pan (I let my batter rise to about an inch from the top of the pan); this should take about 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while the batter's rising.

Bake the bread for about 40 to 45 minutes. It should be quite golden brown on the outside. I tested mine with a toothpick, too.

Cool the bread in its pan for 15 minutes then invert it onto a cooling rack.

While still warm but not hot, set the bread still on its rack over a baking sheet and liberally dust the top of it with the cinnamon sugar.

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Brown Sugar Pound Cake . . . with Sauteed Apples and Cinnamon Whipped Cream . . . (See How My Mind Works?)

Some fisherman live by a little motto associated with an acronym that you may have heard. They call it "CPR" and it stands for "catch, photograph, and release." If you're a food blogger who focuses on baked goods and desserts you probably already know full well that some of the items you'll make will be so densely packed with temptation that you'll be forced to CPR them--that is, you'll plate up just one serving, photograph it, and then, bravely, freeze or banish most of the remainder.

This brown sugar pound cake is just such a temptress. I suspected last night that I'd need to place this velvety pound cake in the deep freeze to stave off personal over-indulgence. But this morning I realized the freezer was an absolute certainty when my husband, on his way out the door, glanced back at me and said, "Don't let me eat any of that really good cake today, okay?"

Man, he's stoic. I have to admire that guy. He's lately been working particularly hard on losing weight, and I don't want to sabotage his efforts. I, too, am intimately familiar with the weight struggle, so, my overriding thought right now is:  Thank God for plastic wrap, Zip-Loc freezer bags, and refrigeration. Out of sight, out of mind is good, and sometimes out of house, out of mind is even better.

About this recipe . . . 

This pound cake recipe is adapted from chefs Todd English and Paige Retus's book, The Olives Dessert Table. Elegant but unpretentious, the small volume is jam packed with creatively plated desserts, and the self-proclaimed "familiar made finer" recipes are  presented in a way that seems specifically designed to neither intimidate nor discourage home cooks. In my ever-growing collection of cookbooks, it's definitely one of my faves.



What did I change in the pound cake's original recipe? Along with rewording the instructions, instead of using all white sugar, I subbed in about three quarters light brown sugar, and for the remainder I used white cane sugar (the use of light brown sugar was suggested in the book as a possible variation). I also, on a whim, threw in one tablespoon of real maple syrup to add depth of character to the flavor. (The recipe also suggests adding in nuts or dried fruit, but I wasn't at all crazy about that idea so I left those out.)

Noticing that the recipe didn't call for any chemical leavener at all concerned me a bit, so I decided to sift in 1/2 tsp. of baking powder with the flour and salt. I don't honestly know exactly how the pound cake would have turned out had I not included baking powder . . . probably would have just been more dense? I suppose. Before deciding to do that, though, I skimmed through about six other basic pound cake recipes in six different cookbooks to get a better feel for the general leavening situation. Those recipes were all fairly varied, but none of them omitted either baking powder or baking soda altogether. 

The addition of apples sauteed in browned butter, light brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, and a squeeze of fresh orange juice was my own idea, thrown together, along with that dollop of sweetened cinnamon-kissed whipped cream. See how my mind works? I know. I guess I'm just incorrigible.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake . . . with Sauteed Apples and Cinnamon Whipped Cream

(For a printable version of these recipes, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9" metal loaf pan, and one mini loaf pan or something of comparable size. (Please note that when I made this recipe, it produced a little too much batter for a 9" loaf pan, so I put about one cup of the batter into a mini loaf pan in order to avoid catastrophe. I suggest you have a mini pan prepared as well in case this happens to you too! The mini loaf will bake much faster than the big loaf, so don't forget about it when they're both in the oven.)

Ingredients for the pound cake:

1 lb. (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 and 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated white sugar (I used pure cane sugar.)
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. real maple syrup (I used Trader Joe's brand--good, but not super expensive.)
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 and 1/2 cups All Purpose flour (I used unbleached, and I sifted .)
3/4 tsp. salt (I used regular table salt this time, not kosher/coarse.)
1/2 tsp. baking powder


Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the large bowl of your mixer, beat the butter for several minutes until it looks light, fluffy, and almost white.

Add in all of the sugar and beat well, for another minute or so.

Pour in the vanilla, and then add the eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed for at least a couple of minutes after each addition.

Add in the flour mixture all at once, and beat on lowest speed just until combined. Or if you prefer, do this by hand, folding the flour gently into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan(s), and bake on the middle rack of your oven for at least one hour (mine took closer to 75 minutes).

Check the loaf after half an hour or so to see how it's browning. I covered the top of mine lightly with foil after it had been in the oven about 40 minutes, to prevent burning. Remove the loaf from the oven when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out completely clean, and when a finger tapped on the top of the loaf doesn't leave an impression. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes. Turn it carefully out of the pan and let it cool fully on the rack before trying to slice it.

Store the cake well covered. It should keep really well for a few days and, like so many pound cakes, it apparently improves with age.


Ingredients for sauteed apples (this makes enough for up to 4 servings):
2 medium size apples, peeled and cored (I used Pink Lady apples; firm and very sweet), and sliced into pieces about 1/4" thick
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 to 1/3 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
2 to 4 pinches ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (use a nice sweet orange)

To make the sauteed apples:
Heat a medium size saute pan on the stove over medium-low heat for a minute or two. Add in the butter, letting it melt and begin to slightly brown. Add in the apples and stir to coat them in the butter. Let them simmer for a few minutes. Sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon, stirring it lightly to coat the apples; simmer a couple more minutes. Add in the orange juice and stir to combine. Continue simmering until the apples begin are tender but not mushy. Keep an eye on the pan and be careful not to let the sugar and butter mixture burn. Turn off the fire and let the mixture cool slightly in the pan while you plate your pound cake and whip the cream.

Ingredients for sweetened cinnamon whipped cream (makes about two cups whipped):
1 cup cold heavy cream
4 tbsp. confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 pinches ground cinnamon


To make sweetened cinnamon whipped cream:
In a chilled bowl, beat the cream on medium high speed until it begins to thicken. Sprinkle in the confectioners' sugar and the cinnamon. Keep beating until the cream forms soft peaks. Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to serve.

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Cinnamon Cranberry Shortbread . . . Simplify the Christmas Cookie Marathon!

When your holiday to-do list is longer than the tobaggon hanging on the wall in your garage, how do you  find the time and energy to enjoy non-critical tasks like making cookies without that activity, too, seeming like just another chore? If you're like me, every year you wish you had the time and gusto to make at least a dozen varieties of Christmas cookies, some from brand new recipes and some from old faithfuls. In theory, the cookie-baking marathon sounds so delightful, doesn't it?

Think about it. There you are, bustling around in the kitchen, carols playing in the background, snowflakes twinkling on the window sill. Maybe you're even wearing that cute apron--the one that's been in a drawer for the past ten years because you've never had the guts to expose it to robust molasses or melted dark chocolate? I know, I know. I've been there. Sometimes the Christmas cookie mega-bake experience is just a pipe dream.

But then again, maybe it's not? I figure the answer to this dilemma is two-fold. It requires breaking the work down into chunks--like making the doughs all in one long work session, and then baking the cookies in another. Of course, even that prospect can be daunting. So if you're really stressed, consider making it easier on yourself by using just one base recipe for a simple but fail-proof cookie that can be adapted with any number of different flavorings or add-ins.

Shortbread is a perfect candidate for this approach because:

• it's comprised of very few ingredients and mixes together fairly quickly
• it handles easily compared to stickier roll-out doughs for gingerbread or sugar cookies
• it can be pressed into tart pans by hand, or rolled out and cut with cookie cutters
• it bakes slowly and at a low temperature, which greatly minimizes the chances of burning the cookies
• it's sturdy and not delicate, thus not problematic to store or ship
• it has a long shelf life and can handle reasonable variations in temperature
• it can be customized with the addition of chocolate, with finely chopped nuts or dried fruits, or any variety of extracts--try vanilla, citrus, or almond
• the finished cookies can be dipped in melted chocolate, glazed with a thin icing, or sprinkled with sugar

Just remember, don't fiddle with the the proportions of flour, sugar, and butter. They're kind of sacrosanct in a scenario like this. But everything else is up for grabs. Really. It's a miracle cookie. It's the original Christmas Miracle Cookie! Not kidding. So don't panic if you committed to producing a zillion cookies for this office party and that church event. Stick with one basic recipe, adjust it to suit your whims, and everything will be fine. These cinnamon cranberry shortbread cut-outs are a case-in-point. Made from a recipe I adapted, they won't let you down.

This is adapted from the classic shortbread recipe in Dede Wilson's book, The Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies.

Cinnamon Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1 lb. of unsalted butter, softened (4 sticks)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling
5 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt (a generous 1/4 tsp.; I think a wee bit of salt is vital in a cookie--without it, it's just flat)
3 drops vanilla extract
2 drops almond extract
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (or less, if you prefer; more, though, can overpower this recipe)
3/4 cup dried cranberries chopped very small (loosely packed into the measuring cup)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. 

In the large bowl of your mixer, beat the butter at medium high speed for three minutes, until light and fluffy. Still on medium high speed, slowly pour in the sugar over a period of about 8 minutes (yes, I said 8 minutes), until the mixture is almost white in color and extremely fluffy. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Now on the lowest speed, add in the flour mixture in three portions, mixing just until each portion is  incorporated. Pour in the cranberry pieces and beat only until they seem fairly evenly distributed in the dough, not long at all. The dough should not be so soft that it needs to be chilled before rolling.

Divide the dough into thirds. Working with one third at a time, on a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4" thickness--no thinner. Using small cookie cutters of your choice, firmly cut the pieces and place them carefully onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. They can be placed pretty close together as they'll spread very, very little in the oven. Sprinkle each cookie with a couple pinches of granulated sugar.


Bake each tray for approximately 15 minutes or more, checking the cookies regularly; remove them from the oven when they just start to turn slightly golden around the edges. They're not supposed to become golden brown all over. Allow them to cool on the pans for 10 minutes before removing them to cooling racks.

Alternately, you can press the dough evenly into 8" or 9" tart pans with removable bottoms. This is a very quick and easy method if you don't feel like using cookie cutters. Sprinkle sugar on top and place the pans on top of cookie sheets to bake. If you make them this way, slice the baked cookies pie-wedge fashion while they're still somewhat warm from the oven; if you wait to slice them until they're cool, they'll be far more prone to breaking apart.

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Autumn Apple Pie with Warm Cinnamon Sauce

I love everything about apple season. Apples are so perfect, so classic. And they never fail to remind me of childhood. I was born and raised in Michigan and, to me, fresh apples just seem like the distilled essence of a Michigan autumn--evocative in the nicest way.

In fact, if I were taking a word-association test and had to respond to the word "fruit," I'm quite sure I'd  blurt out "apple!" without missing a beat. They have such perennial appeal, and they're naturally portable. It's as if each one comes in its own protective little suitcase, making it travel-friendly. It wants to go where you go.

While not a single leaf in these parts has yet turned golden nor burnished red, and neighborhood school-kids have barely had time to crack open their textbooks or sharpen new pencils, I needed to make an apple pie. Not a grand model of complexity, mind you. Just a great hearty pie, served along with a warm, gently spicy, cinnamon sauce. What could be better than that?

About this recipe . . .

This isn't a complicated pie to put together, and it doesn't require a lot of time--both are factors in its favor. The crust, in my experience, is just about foolproof and, as it bakes, turns the loveliest color. The filling is neither time consuming nor does it require any exotic ingredients.

A wedge of this pie is completely satisfying on its own--no question about it. But drape it with a spoonful of the buttery cinnamon sauce and it takes on an added dimension that sets it apart. Really, really good pie!



I borrowed from a couple sources in making this pie. The crust recipe is from Apple Pie Perfect, by Ken Haedrich, and the filling recipe was inspired by one in Carole Walter's book Great Pies & Tarts. I could spend hours (and come to think of it I guess I have!) immersed in Walter's many cookbooks. They're amazing.

The sauce was just something I experimented with after looking at the directions for basic sweet sauces in a number of places; it's elementary and is one of those things, kind of like ganache, that hardly seems to require a formal recipe.

Autumn Apple Pie with Warm Cinnamon Sauce

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Ingredients for the crust:
3 cups All-Purpose flour (I used unbleached)
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
3/4 tsp. salt (I used kosher)
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into chunks
1/2 cup very cold water

To make the crust:
In the large bowl of a food processor, place the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse several times to mix. Take off the lid and toss in the butter chunks. Pulse again, about 6 times, to cut the butter in. Again remove the lid and, using a fork, fluff up the mixture, scraping down to the bottom of the bowl. Toss in the shortening cubes and pulse about 6 times, then take off the lid, scrape the bottom, and fluff again with a fork.

Drizzle only about half of the cold water in and pulse 6 times. Fluff the dough again with a fork, then sprinkle in the remainder of the water. Pulse a few more times, until the dough begins to clump together. Dump it out into a clean mixing bowl.

Test the texture of the dough by squeezing a bit of it in your hand. If it's too dry and won't hold together, sprinkle in a tiny bit more water, one teaspoon at a time, working it in gently with your fingers. When the dough holds together, divide it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other, shape each into a ball, and flatten the balls into disks about 1" thick. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill them in the fridge for about an hour or so. While the dough is chilling, make the apple filling.

(*If you'd prefer to make the dough entirely by hand, use a pastry blender and a large mixing bowl to combine the ingredients, following the same general steps above in the same order. After you've cut in the butter, the dough should be in bits about the size of split peas. After you've cut in the shortening, the dough should be in smaller bits, perhaps the size of coarse cornmeal.)

Ingredients for the apple filling:

Approximately 7 to 9 large apples (I used some Granny Smiths, and a few nice Honey Crisps, but you should use any nice, firm, baking apples that you prefer. I've also had great luck in the past with really fresh Gala apples. I believe this is a good pie to experiment with, in this regard. I used probably 9 apples and my pie was piled high!)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 light brown sugar (not firmly packed)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (or a little more if you adore the stuff! I adore it . . .)
1/8 tsp. ground, or a few scrapings of grated whole, nutmeg (I used grated; use with discretion--this stuff's powerful!)
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

To make the filling:
Peel apples and cut into 1/4 inch slices, dropping them into a large mixing bowl. Toss the pieces with the lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine the sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Don't add this to the fruit yet-- just set it aside.

* * * * 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Brush the inside of a 9" pie plate with a light coating of soft unsalted butter. Remove just the larger ball of dough from the fridge, unwrap it, and place it on a lightly flour-dusted work surface. Roll the dough into a 13" circle and place it carefully into the pie plate; try not to stretch it in the process. Trim the edge so you have an overhang of up to one inch.


Ingredients for egg wash (to brush on inside of pie shell and on top of top-crust before baking):
white only from one large egg
1 tsp. water

To make the egg wash:
Whisk the egg white and water together with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush the bottom, sides, and edge of the raw pie shell lightly with the mixture.

* * * *



Now, pour the sugar mixture into the apples and stir to coat the pieces.

Shovel your apples into your pie shell, mounding them high in the center. Dot the fruit with bits of the 1 Tbsp. of butter.

* * * * 

Roll out the second disk of dough into a 13" circle and place it over the fruit. Trim the edge of the dough, and seal the edges together by crimping it closed with your fingers or with the tines of a fork, as you prefer. Cut a few small vents in the top crust to release steam. Gently brush the top crust with more of the egg wash, and then sprinkle the crust with a few pinches of plain granulated sugar or cinnamon sugar.

To keep the edges of the pie from burning in the oven, cover them with foil shaped to fit. (My trick is to take a square of foil about 13" x 13",  fold it into quarters into a smaller square, then I cut a large wedge shape out of the inner section. If done right, when I unfold it I end up with a nice round hole in  the middle of a  border of  foil that can be placed atop my crust and gently secured on the outer edges so it won't shift around. I find this is quicker and much less cumbersome than trying to shape random strips of foil around the edge of a pie.)

Place the pie in the oven. About 20 minutes into baking, place a baking sheet beneath; this will help prevent the bottom from burning. Check the pie again periodically; if the top crust appears to be browning quickly, lightly place a sheet of foil atop it and leave it there until the pie is done. Peek also at the edges of the pie to check if they're browning; if they're not, remove the foil border about ten minutes towards the end of the baking time.

Depending in part upon the type of apples you used, your pie may take 40 to 55 minutes. There should be bubbling evident through the vents, and the pie should be golden all over before you decide it's done. If you like softer fruit, plan to bake the pie on the longer side.

Let the pie cool on a rack for at least three hours before cutting.  Make the cinnamon sauce while you're waiting.

 
Ingredients for the cinnamon sauce:
1 and 1/2 cups water
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1 and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. water


Dissolve the cornstarch with the 1 Tbsp. of water in a very small bowl. Stir until it's smooth.


In a small sauce pan, combine the 1 and 1/2 cups water, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Bring to a low boil, then turn the fire down and let it simmer for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Stir a couple spoonfuls of this hot mixture into the cornstarch mixture to temper it; then pour this back into the sauce pan and stir continually on low heat until the sauce thickens. Strain the sauce into a bowl to remove any lumps. Serve it warm, spooned over slices of the baked apple pie.

*If you like this recipe, but you want to guarantee that there's not a lot of juice in the baked pie, I recommend you check out this apple pie post I did last year. It's a more involved and time consuming process (you precook the fruit for a while, etc.) but it produces a truly exceptional pie.

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Cinnamon Sour-Cream Coffee Cake . . . and Bakers' Intuition

One evening, a couple of months ago, I found myself casually browsing around in a big bookstore. Strolling from section to section, pausing to pick up interesting titles that caught my eye, it wasn't long before I meandered  into the cookbooks. I zeroed in on the baking books of particular interest to me, but hung back a bit as I approached because there was one other woman in the aisle and she, too, was focused on the very group of books I hoped to peruse. I didn't want to invade her space or make her feel rushed, so I busied myself nearby and took a book randomly from one of the shelves. Flipping through the glossy pages, I kept glancing over in her direction, curious as to which books were absorbing her attention so completely.

Eventually she must have sensed my interest because after a few minutes she turned to me with a smile and said, "Do you have any suggestions for good baking cookbooks? I want something new, but I'm not sure what to get." That comment broke the ice and we stood there chatting for a good twenty minutes or more. We paged through a half dozen books together, critiquing their merits. We talked about the kind of baking we each like to do, and what we value so much about baking from scratch. It was one of those rare conversations you occasionally have with a complete stranger that evolves so naturally it makes you feel as if you might have known that person for years.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about that little encounter was that it really wasn't so surprising at all. It seems to me that when you see someone who is immersed in a baking book, you are very likely looking at a kindred spirit. After all, not everyone bakes for fun. Most people, in fact, almost never bake from scratch, and not everyone reads cookbooks purely for pleasure.

But some of us do. In this respect, as devoted home bakers, it's kind of like we're charter members of an unofficial but universal club. We seem to have ways of finding each other. Whether it be through books, or recipe sharing, through food blogs, or chance encounters in person, I'm starting to wonder if we have some sort of magical radar that allows us to scout each other out. Is it just a form of bakers' intuition, or a bakers' psychic connection? I do not know. But, whatever it is, it's delightful, comforting, and ever so slightly mysterious.

About this recipe . . . 

What's not to love about a classic sour cream coffee cake embedded with swirls of cinnamon, brown sugar, and pecans? I'm talking about a moist cake with a soft tender crumb, not a super-dense pound cake texture. Add to that the complementary flavor balance of vanilla and butter, marbled with a generous streak of delicately spicy sweetness, and you can't go wrong.

This sour cream coffee cake formula combines what I think are the best features of two similar recipes found in two fine sources: The Sono Baking Company Cookbook, by John Barricelli, and Carole Walter's Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More. The most interesting feature of Barricelli's version, I thought, was his direction to mix the baking soda with the sour cream well before it gets mixed into the rest of the batter. This allowed the sour cream time to actually fluff up from the action of the soda, so when I finally added it into the batter, alternately with the flour, it was almost like I was adding in beaten egg whites instead of plopping in heavy wet globs of sour cream. In my experience, speaking strictly as a home-baker, this is an altogether uncommon technique, but one that produces a pretty intriguing effect. Though I don't recall encountering it before, I must admit I was instantly enamored.

From Carole Walter's recipe, I borrowed her advice to use superfine sugar instead of regular granulated sugar in the cake, and  instead of using Barricelli's guidance to go with cake flour, I went with Walter's choice of All Purpose flour, which I decided had better be sifted. I toasted my pecans before chopping them, and I decided to use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract. Why? Only because I 'd never used it before but had recently purchased a bottle and wanted to try it out. This seemed like it might be an appropriate venue in which to do so because this cake can handle a substantial amount of vanilla flavoring without being overpowered by it.

Vanilla bean paste is akin to a dark syrupy version of vanilla extract that also includes visible vanilla bean seeds, along with a little bit of sugar. It can be exchanged for vanilla extract in a recipe on a one-to-one basis, so it's a flexible ingredient to have in one's arsenal.

This is a very solid recipe that I can envision making again and again in years to come. I was completely pleased with the way it turned out.

Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter generously the sides and bottom of a 10" tube pan with a removable bottom, and dust well with flour, tapping out the excess.

For the topping:
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 to 2 and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (use the larger amount if you're a cinnamon maniac)
1 and 1/4 cups pecans, toasted and then finely chopped (toast in 350 oven on a baking sheet for about 12 minutes)

For the cake: 
2 cups thick sour cream (I actually used 1 and 1/2 cups sour cream and 1/2 cup Greek style yogurt and it worked out great; I needed to do this because I miscalculated how much sour cream I had on hand to start with. I think you could safely substitute more yogurt for some of the sour cream if you wanted to do so, but I wouldn't substitute all yogurt for all of the sour cream. I suspect doing that might change the character and/or flavor of this particular cake.)
2 tsp. baking soda
3 and 1/2 cups All Purpose flour, sifted
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups of superfine sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

To make the topping: 
In a little bowl, toss together the brown sugar, finely chopped toasted pecans, and cinnamon, mixing it well with a fork. Set aside.

To make the cake:
In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and baking soda; set this aside. In another small bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together; set this aside as well.

In the large bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the superfine sugar, butter, and salt on medium-high speed until fluffy and light, for 2 to 3 minutes. Halfway through, stop to scrape the bowl and beaters.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in the vanilla paste/vanilla extract.

On low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three batches, alternately with the sour cream. Beat well after each addition.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared tube pan.

Sprinkle in half of the topping mixture, taking care to avoid the sides of the pan if possible (easier said than done!). You want to kind of hide the filling within the batter. Use a knife to lightly swirl the topping into the batter.

Add the rest of the batter on top of that, and smooth it out. Sprinkle the remaining topping all over the top of the batter.

Put the cake pan on top of a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Be sure to check the cake about halfway through its baking time and rotate the pan. If the top is already golden brown, cover it lightly with foil at that point and leave the foil on until the cake is done.

Cool the cake in its tube pan, set on a cooling rack, until it's almost completely cool. Run a thin knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen it. Lift it out of the pan, insert the cake quickly onto a flat plate, then re-invert it onto your serving plate (might want to do this over a sink, because some of the topping will inevitably fall off; the faster you do it, the less will have a chance to fall off!).

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