Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake


I just recently joined a Blogger baking group callled "The Cake Slice". Once a month the group bakes a recipe that we voted on. We get to blog about it on the 20th of every month.


This month's recipe was "Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake". I was really looking forward to this being my first time baking with group and never making coffee cake before.


I have this horrible habit of making two batches of a recipe that I've never tried! I read the recipe and looked easy enough not to mess up. And since I expected company that morning I went ahead and made two batches. Big mistake with this one!


Where should I start? I found the batter to thick to spread. The bottom layer wasn't too bad, the top layer was difficult to spread. I didn't care for the raisins. I should have chopped the pecans finer too. The topping, I felt was too dry it definately needed more melted butter. I don't know if I over baked it because the next day I found was too dry. Next time around I'm leaving the raisins out and adding more butter to the topping. By the way this wasn't a winner with the kids and hubby. I ended up throwing out most of the second cake. I hate wasting! My hubby said it had too much cinnamon for his liking. I suppose I'll have to cut the cinnamon back too. Hopefully you'll have better luck with this recipe than I did.


"Cinnamon-Pecan Coffe Cake" from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

Cinnamon-Raisin Filling:
1 1/2 c. light brown sugar
3 tbls. flour
3 tbls. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 c. raisins
1 1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted

Coffee Cake:
3 c. flour
1 tbls. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. milk
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 13x9 inch pan.

To make the filling, combine the light brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. Combine the raisins and pecans in another bowl and toss to mix them. Place the cinnamon mixture, the nut mixture, and the melted butter by the baking pan.

To make the coffee cake batter, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork to mix them together well. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar, beat with mixer at high speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl, until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.

Using a large spoon or spatula, add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir only until the flour disappears. Add about a third of the milk and mix it in. Reapeat two more times with the remaining flour and milk, stirring just enough each time to keep the batter smooth.

Spread half the batter evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter, followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the batter. Spread the remaining cinnamon mixture, butter and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant, and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes on wire racks or a folded kitchen towel, and then serve in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm or at room temperature.


6 comments:

Leslie Harris said...

How cool that you follow the Cake Slice Bakers! How did you join? I follow another blog that is part of that group. She posted her results so maybe you can compare if you want. lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com

Have you tried any of the other recipes from that book? I'm looking to buy another cookbook, and that one is on my wishlist.

Monica H said...

sorry it wasn't your favorite. I liked the cake but I omitted the raisins and added a little more butter to the top. maybe that was the trick!

hopefully next months cake will be more to your liking. glad to be baking with you!

Katie said...

Welcome to the group! Your cake looks wonderful, sorry to hear you weren't that fond of it.

Joy said...

Hi Anabel! (that's one of my favorite names!)

I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself- My name is Joy and I’m another one of the newbie Cake Slice bakers. I’m really looking forward to meeting other members, and I hope to have the chance to get to know you better as we bake our way through Southern Cakes :)

I'm sorry the taste of this coffee cake was not a hit with you and your family, but it surely looked beautiful. Hopefully, since we have 11 more cakes to go, the rest will knock your socks off! By the way, I noticed a few of your GORGEOUS cakes, and I wanted to compliment you on your amazing talent. You had mentioned you did a Wilton class- I just started one (the first in the series) at Michaels last week... too funny! Please let me know what you thought about the experience, if it's not too much trouble!

If you have a chance, I’d love for you to stop by my blog, “Hot Oven, Warm Heart,” and say hello- it’d be wonderful to hear from you!

Hope you have a great rest of your week and a relaxing weekend!

Fondly,
Joy
http://hotovenwarmheart.wordpress.com/

symphonious sweets said...

Sorry to hear you did not like the coffee cake. Welcome to our baking group!

natalia said...

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it so much ! I actually liked it a lot !!