Follow us on:

SUGAR & STILETTOS RECIPES
Nanci Christopher
July 15, 2010

MOTHER’S CINNAMON-PECAN COFFEE CAKE
From Nancie McDermott's SOUTHERN CAKES

Ingredients:

Cinnamon-Raisin Filling:
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon*
1 ½ cups raisins
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, melted]

Coffee Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature

HEAT THE OVEN to 350ºF degrees and grease and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan.

TO MAKE THE F ILLING, combine the light brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium 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, the nut mixture and the melted butter by the baking pan.

TO MAKE THE CAKE BATER, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to mix them together well. STIR the vanilla into the milk.

IN A LARGE BOWL, combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer at high speed, stopping to scrape down the bowl until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. ADD the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.

USING A LARGE SPOON or a spatula, ADD about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir only until the flour disappears. ADD about a third of the milk and mix it in. REPEAT two more times with the remaining flour and milk, stirring just enough each time to keep the batter smooth.

SPREAD HALF THE BATTER evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter, followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half t he raisins and nuts over the batter. Spread the remaining batter carefully over the filling, using a spatula or a spoon to smooth t he batter all the way to the edges of the pan. Top with the remaining cinnamon mixture, butter, raisins and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.

BAKE at 350F degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. COOL the cake in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes on wire racks or a folded kitchen towel, and then serve in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm, or at room temperature.

*Nancie McDermott calls for 3 tablespoons of cinnamon which seems a bit much to me so I reduced it to half that (1 ½ tablespoons). The cake was still wonderful and quite cinnamony. If you really LOVE cinnamon go for it and use the entire 3 tablespoons!

Back to Recipe List