cake slice bakers – cinnamon pecan coffee cake

As you may or may not know, I am now officially a member of a secret interwebs baking club.

I first heard about this club from Monica’s blog (Hi, Monica! *waves*), and basically, it’s a group of peeps who bake their way through a cookbook. I find this an ideal group for two reasons: A) I like baking things and then taking photos of it, and 2) I, in general, like reading blogs of other people who also like to bake and take photos of it.

My needs and wants are simple, really.

So when I realized that the Cake Slice Bakers were getting ready to dig in (heh) to a new book, I quickly and politely elbowed my way into their group. Actually, no elbowing was involved. Email was, which can’t really be considered elbowing. And since they were starting a new cookbook, it wasn’t like I was being pushy, as they are a very accepting group, so really it was just me emailing Monica and asking how I could join this band of merry bakers, and ta-da! Here I am.

Which is really a longer explanation than needed.

Back to baking!

This year the Cake Slice Bakers will be baking our way through Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations by Nancie McDermott. So every month on the 20^th here at McPolish, you’ll find my version/results of the recipe of the month. This month’s recipe, as voted on by the CSBers, was a cinnamon pecan coffee cake. Voila!

I’m not going to lie, I was only semi-happy with how this cake turned out. It tasted terrific, but it just…. I don’t know….it just wasn’t ideal. I made it during Baby Watch! 2009!, because I had run out of other things to do and I was sitting around watching entirely too much HGTV and The Bonnie Hunt Show to be healthy.

The dough was a little thick to spread evenly, and it didn’t cut as cleanly as I would have liked, but overall, it wasn’t bad. I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Makes a 13×9 inch sheet cake

For the Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

For the Cinnamon Raisin Filling

1½ cups light brown sugar

3 tbsp all purpose flour

3 tbsp cinnamon

1½ cups raisins

1½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, melted

Mmmm…raisins

Part of the fun was using my sister’s Kitchen Aid mixer. I do not own one of these, unfortunately, though if I did, I would have to mix things on my living room floor. As it is I slice and dice and mix at my own peril in my shoebox of a kitchen, in my shoebox of an abode. Ah, studio apartment life.

In case anybody is wondering, the cake batter is delicious when fresh off the paddle. I do my research for you,  people. FOR YOU.

Method

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9 inch pan.

To make the filling, combine the light brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a 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, nut mixture and melted butter by the baking pan to use later.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer on high speed until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl to ensure a good mix. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.

Use a large spoon or spatula to add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir only until the flour disappears. Add a third of the milk and mix in. Repeat twice more until all the flour and milk mixtures have been incorporated. Stir just enough to keep the batter smooth.

Spread half the batter evenly into 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 top. Spread the remaining batter carefully over the filling, using a spatula to smooth the batter all the way to the edges of the pan. Top with the leftover cinnamon, butter and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant and beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before serving in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm or at room temperature.

The finished product. Meh. It tasted pretty good, but I could have done better. On to next month!

Sorry, Toby, you won’t be able to help me next month, since I’ll be baking from my home kitchen here in DC. Not that you were much help anyway. Unless by “help” you mean “sitting on my feet until I dropped something so you could snarfle it up like a hoover.” Because in that sense you are incredibly helpful.