Aunt Betsy's Walnut Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

This coffee cake has a secret ingredient - sour cream! The sour cream makes this cake so moist it is almost like pound cake. With swirls of cinnamon and sugar, and chunks of chopped walnuts mixed throughout, this is a great fall or winter baked treat. The good news is- this cake is fantastic at any time of the day. The bad news is- you'll probably eat too much of it and hate yourself, (or me....)

As Kate Spade says... "Eat Cake For Breakfast!"

Ingredients:

• 3 cups All-Purpose Flour

• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• 3/4 cup Butter or Margarine

• 1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar

• 3 Eggs

• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 1 Pint Sour Cream

• 3/4 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar

• 2 Tsp Cinnamon

• 1 cup Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

Confectioners Sugar Frosting:

• 1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

• 1 1/2 -3 tsp of whole milk or heavy cream (enough to mix with sugar to make a drippable icing or spreadable consistency)

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Tools:

• Bundt pan

1. Recipe: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together and set aside

3. Cream the butter in an electric mixer until soft. Gradually add the granulated sugar and beat well.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each.

5. Add in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients alternately with sour cream. (I recommend adding a quarter of the dry ingredients then 1/4 of the sour cream and continue that pattern until fully mixed.)

6. Mix the brown sugar, the walnuts and the cinnamon in a separate small bowl until well mixed.

7. Grease your loaf pans well (I recommend a Bundt cake pan or tube pan, but you can also do two 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pans).

8. Add a little less than one third of the batter to the bottom on the pan (or pans if using loaf pans). Sprinkle with one third of the nut mixture. Repeat this process alternating a layer of batter with a layer of the nut mixture until both are used up. Pro-tip! Use less batter for the first layer than you expect to so you have enough batter for the remaining layers, you just want enough to coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer!

9. Bake in oven for 1 hour if using a Bundt or tube pan or 45- 50 minutes if using loaf pans. Check middle of loaf with a toothpick to see if it is done. (If you poke the cake with a toothpick and it comes out clean, it is done, if it comes out with batter on it you're not quite there yet!)

10. Let stand on cake rack or cooling rack for 5 minutes to cool and then turn out of pan, leaving the cake bottom up if using a Bundt pan or right side up if using loaf tins.

11. For immediate serving: While the cake is still fairly warm place on a board or serving plate and spread frosting, allowing the mixture to run down the sides, icing will be clear as it melts into the cake to turn into a glaze.

12. For a more polished look: let cake completely cool before icing to get those sharper white drizzle lines.

13. Cake can also be frozen for later consumption, just wrap tightly.

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