Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Toasted Pecan Filling

The art of creating is a big part of me. It is both energizing & relaxing. The excitement of ideas. The work of my hands. Beholding the crafting of something new. What with all my most-of-the-day-sickness though, the only thing I've been creating is a new life, and well, it doesn't quite have the same effect. All this to say....

....my inner chef was withering.


I would lovingly gaze at cookbooks or my latest issue of Fine Cooking & wonder when I would be able to create in the kitchen again. Nuking a Lean Cuisine doesn't count.
So Saturday, while the kids & hubby were all away, I created.


I measured. I sifted. I whisked. I chopped. I picked a somewhat involved recipe and I enjoyed every step. I made sure to relish the quality time with my Kitchenaid Mixer. I smelled everything. I remembered how much I love the smell of cinnamon. Aaaaah......



And after nearly an hour and a half of preparing & baking time, I had this:


Seems like the cake inflated and swallowed up 3/4 of the streusel on top. Either that, or it was baker's error. No. It was probably the first one. It was everything I'd hoped for. A very tender crumb. {I even processed regular sugar to make it super-fine, for the love of all things baked.} Crunch from the streusel, what little survived. Swirls of slightly chocolately, cinnamony, nutty filling. {Toasting the nuts before making the filling really enhanced their nuttiness.} The best part was that it wasn't cloyingly sweet. No toothaches upon first bite.


It was just what my little inner chef needed.

ATTENTION: No calories were transmitted to your body through our computer screens during the reading of this post. Enjoy without guilt!


2 comments:

Peaceful Chaoz said...

LOL, you are to funny!

Looks yummy!!

btw, I ate breakfast ;0)

Stephanie said...

YUM! If it didn't sound like such a complicated process, I might be willing to attempt it...but I only do simple recipes, so I'll just drool over yours through my screen. :-)