We celebrated my mom's birthday this past weekend, so one of my challenges in planning her birthday dinner was finding a cake recipe that was a little different. Historically I have not done much baking, which makes this a bit more of an adventure.
After thumbing through a number of cookbooks, I landed on a recipe for Walnut-Sour Cream Cake from Dean Fearing's The Mansion on Turtle Creek Cookbook (recipe below). This is an extremely versatile recipe -- its a tasty dessert but could also be used as a breakfast coffee cake. Not sure if its being a child of the 70's, but I love recipes where I can use a Bundt cake pan.
The cake came out moist, and the cardamom, cinnamon and walnuts gave it a warm flavor. When making the glaze, I used a combination of fresh lemon and orange juice since citrus is so plentiful right now. In the future, I would poke some holes in the cake before drizzling the glaze so the glaze could be absorbed by the cake.
Visually, the cake is very pretty when cut. The dollops of the brown sugar mixture create a fancy swirl in the body of the cake.
Recipe: Walnut-Sour Cream Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups unsalted butter
3 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
4 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
Lemon Glaze (recipe to follow)
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
Cream butter and 2 1/2 cups brown sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Continue beating while adding molasses, eggs and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt and baking soda. Alternately add sour cream and flour mixture to batter, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Do not overmix.
Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and 3/4 cup walnuts and set aside.
Spoon enough batter into prepared pan to cover the bottom. Dot with dollops of reserved brown sugar mixture. Add a layer of batter and top with additional dollops of brown sugar mixture. Cover with a final layer of batter.
Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick near the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan and on a rack for 15 to 20 minutes. While still warm, turn onto a serving platter.
Spread Lemon Glaze over the top of warm cake and sprinkle with additional chopped nuts. When cake has cooled, sift confectioners' sugar over top.
Lemon Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh orange juice may be substituted)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Combine confectioners' sugar with lemon (orange) juice and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Use immediately.
(Recipe courtesy of The Mansion at Turtle Creek Cookbook by Dean Fearing, 1987)
After thumbing through a number of cookbooks, I landed on a recipe for Walnut-Sour Cream Cake from Dean Fearing's The Mansion on Turtle Creek Cookbook (recipe below). This is an extremely versatile recipe -- its a tasty dessert but could also be used as a breakfast coffee cake. Not sure if its being a child of the 70's, but I love recipes where I can use a Bundt cake pan.
The cake came out moist, and the cardamom, cinnamon and walnuts gave it a warm flavor. When making the glaze, I used a combination of fresh lemon and orange juice since citrus is so plentiful right now. In the future, I would poke some holes in the cake before drizzling the glaze so the glaze could be absorbed by the cake.
Visually, the cake is very pretty when cut. The dollops of the brown sugar mixture create a fancy swirl in the body of the cake.
Recipe: Walnut-Sour Cream Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups unsalted butter
3 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
4 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
Lemon Glaze (recipe to follow)
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
Cream butter and 2 1/2 cups brown sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Continue beating while adding molasses, eggs and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt and baking soda. Alternately add sour cream and flour mixture to batter, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Do not overmix.
Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and 3/4 cup walnuts and set aside.
Spoon enough batter into prepared pan to cover the bottom. Dot with dollops of reserved brown sugar mixture. Add a layer of batter and top with additional dollops of brown sugar mixture. Cover with a final layer of batter.
Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick near the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan and on a rack for 15 to 20 minutes. While still warm, turn onto a serving platter.
Spread Lemon Glaze over the top of warm cake and sprinkle with additional chopped nuts. When cake has cooled, sift confectioners' sugar over top.
Lemon Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh orange juice may be substituted)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Combine confectioners' sugar with lemon (orange) juice and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Use immediately.
(Recipe courtesy of The Mansion at Turtle Creek Cookbook by Dean Fearing, 1987)
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