It’s a new year, and time for a new book! I’ve loved nearly everything we made from Sky High : Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, and I’m looking forward to baking from Southern Cakes : Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebratons. Because you don’t always have an immediate outlet for a sky-high cake, you know?
Coffee Cake, though – I can peddle that anywhere. It’s practically healthy.
This recipe, I altered. Couldn’t find raisins anywhere, but did find dried cranberries from Trader Joe’s. Also, have inexplicably run out of pecans; substituted walnuts. All else the same.
I think, were I doing it again, I’d go ahead and make the crumble instead of layering the ingredients separately. The butter dribbled around weirdly and ended up making odd shapes. The taste is fine, but it looks funny.
The topping ends up nicely crunchy and caramelized, the cake moist and fluffy. The rest disappeared rather quickly at work this morning, so I can’t report on how it holds up over a few days, but I hear it does well.
See? weird bobbles of cake.
For the Cake:
- 3 cups all purpose flour [I used White Lily]
- 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 Cranberry Walnut Filling:
- 1½ cups light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp cinnamon
- 1½ cups raisins dried cranberries
- 1½ cups coarsely chopped pecans walnuts
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, melted
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.
Yummy cinnamon, sugar, and flour
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. [Actually, I mixed per Rose and beat it for a minute or so til it was light and fluffy. The cake came out perfectly light and moist regardless]
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.
Ready to bake!
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes [I’d check sooner – mine was quite very well done at 45 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.
Sugarpunk Desserts 