Williams Sonoma Cinnamon-Walnut Coffee Cake

Cinnamon-Walnut Coffee Cake

This weekend, I got to see my friend Helen three days in a row! Friday night for the movie Five Year Engagement - it was funny and cute! Saturday night for the awesome Dodger's Game versus the Washington Nationals. The Dodgers came from behind in the 9th and then Matt Kemp's homer in the 10th inning won the game. Hella screams and shouts! Our seats were awesomeness - check these out! And on Sunday Helen hosted a brunch at her house!

I borrowed the book, Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch from the library and made this lovely coffee cake. The cake has a layer of cinnamon-walnut-sugar (hence the name of the cake!)

You know I'm totally into the Bundt cake, but sometimes you need a Tube pan (which is NOT a Bundt) to make cakes with a topping.

This cake is made with cake flour, sour cream and oil. The crumb is pretty soft. Don't you just love Helen's oil cloth tablecloth? She's ready for summer entertaining.

Helen made some delicious potatoes. I had, um, perhaps three servings. Small servings...over and over.

Marie made a great fruit and yogurt parfait. Lots of fresh fruit! Yummmmmmy! Kathryn made fluffy dill eggs and Christine brought mimosas!

Williams Sonoma Cinnamon-Walnut Coffee Cake
For the filling and topping:
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the cake:
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup canola or corn oil (I used Wesson's vegetable oil)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Oil a 9 1/2- or 10-inch tube pan with sides at least 3 3/4 inches high. Prep the pan by spraying it with Pam with Flour or oil the bottom of the pan.

Filling and topping: In a bowl, stir together the walnuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cake: In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In an electric mixer with paddle, combine the eggs and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is light in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Slowly (very slowly) add the oil and vanilla and beat on low speed. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Mix in the sour cream just until no white streaks remain.

Pour about two-thirds of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth top. Set aside 1/4 cup of the walnut-cinnamon mixture to use as a topping. Sprinkle the remaining mixture evenly over the batter. Insert a small knife about halfway into the batter and gently move it through the walnut-cinnamon filling to create a swirled effect. Pour the remaining batter evenly over the filling and smooth the top with the spatula. The batter will not cover the filling completely. Sprinkle evenly with the reserved topping.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 55 minutes. (My cake took about 63 minutes to bake). Transfer to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around the sides and center tube of the pan to loosen the cake sides. Invert to remove and reinvert so it cools on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).

I didn't make the caramel sauce, nor top it with powdered sugar. Here is the caramel glaze recipe on the Williams Sonoma site.

Recipe:
Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch, by Georgeanne Brennan, Elinor Klivans, Jordan Mackay and Charles Pierce
Find it on Amazon here or in your library via WorldCat

Thumbprints For Us Big Guys - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Mike of Ugly Food Dude selected Thumbprints For Us Big Guys on page 164 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Mike of Ugly Food Dude is hella funny and one of the few (are there others?) dudes cooking in Tuesdays with Dorie. You should definitely read his blog.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

I used walnuts instead of hazelnuts because I'm lazy and didn't want to buy any hazelnuts. Besides, I always think hazelnuts should be a blue-green color.

My cookies spread out a bit and don't look like the photo, but they were tasty.

I used Pam Jam in the center. Pam Jam? My friend Pam and her family make jam every year from their Berkeley plum tree. It's the best!

Recipe:
On Mike's Blog or...
Page 164 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies (Tuesdays with Dorie)

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Lisa of Surviving Oz chose Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies on pages 96 and 97 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Lisa designed our group's new logo! Isn't it grand?!



Dorie writes in her book:

After Katharine Hepburn died, eulogies came from every quarter, many including stories about her brownies. In an article sent to me by my friend Bon Appetit editor in chief Barbara Fairchild, Heather Henderson of St. Paul, Minnesota, recalled wanting to quit her studies at Bryn Mawr. Her father managed to get Miss Hepburn, a Bryn Mawr alum and a neighbor, to intervene. The famous Kate invited both the young woman and her father to her home one afternoon. At tea, Ms. Henderson got a taste of the legendary brownies as well as of the actress's views on education.

In her tribute to the actress, Ms. Henderson wrote, "I'll always be grateful to Miss Hepburn for making me stick it out at Bryn Mawr and for giving me these rules to live by: 1. Never quit; 2. Be yourself and 3. Don't put too much flour in your brownies."

And just like Katharine dictates, this has really very very little flour! 1/4 cup for an 8" square!

I also used 1 1/2 t of espresso powder instead of 2 t of instant coffee. I think I put in a wee bit too much espresso. The brownies were very fudgy, and I'm more of a cake brownie girl, but they were fun to make! Very very easy. You only really need a saucepan!

Katharine Hepburn plays a LIBRARIAN in Desk Set!
The Food Librarian's tribute to Katharine Hepburn

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Find it on Lisa's blog: Surviving Oz
Dorie Greenspan was on NPR's All Things Considered (February 13, 2007) and posted the recipe and story about Katharine Hepburn Brownies.

Buttermilk Coffee Cake or the old school Cowboy Coffee Cake

When I went to DC to visit my friends Racheal and Lee, I baked a bit and picked up some buttermilk for a cake. Unfortunately, Lee took a swig of the buttermilk thinking it was regular milk.

I'm just sorry I missed the look on his face.

Light and easy to make coffee cake with walnut & cinnamon crumb topping

This morning I found myself heading to a presentation at another library and, in a blatant attempt to literally butter up my audience, I was looking for something to bring. And I had buttermilk in the fridge.

I was feeling old school and picked up the Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book (11th edition, 1996). You know, the red plaid cover!!

They call this the Buttermilk Coffee Cake. The note says, "Back by popular demand, this breakfast treat was known as Cowboy Coffee Cake in previous editions of this cookbook."

Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until small crumbs:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter, margarine, or shortening (I used butter)

Put aside 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture and combine with 1/2 cup nuts. I used walnuts. Love the "Walnut Baking Pieces" from Trader Joe's...no need to cut or trim. The nuts aren't optional...you really need them to add crunch and texture.

Stir into the remaining crumb mixture:
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

In a separate bowl, combine these two ingredients and then add (all at once) to the flour mixture:
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups buttermilk or sour milk

Since the crumb mixture contained cold butter, I wasn't sure how to "mix well". It didn't say to make it smooth so I mixed it (by hand) well enough to combine everything and left these little bits of butter. See them? Well, it turned out fine.

Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan (I always line it with parchment paper). Sprinkle the topping over the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Cowboy Coffee Cake or Buttermilk Coffee Cake