Walnut Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Sour cream. This is what is used in this recipe. The fat content is 15-25%. If you don’t have sour cream, you can use plain yogurt. Use 20 grams less than called for in the recipe and add 20 grams more butter.
• Butter. You can use butter with a fat content of 72% or more. It should be at room temperature, soft but not melted – so you can cream it with sugar. I do not recommend substituting shortening – it adds a foreign flavor that spoils everything.
• Sugar. Ordinary white sugar goes in the batter, ideally – fine, because it dissolves better in the batter. Brown sugar goes into the filling. It has 2 advantages: 1) it gives a caramel flavor, 2) it has larger crystals that melt less in the heat treatment. And that’s what we need in the filling – it makes it crunchier. You can, of course, replace it with regular white sugar, but the overall taste of the cake will be a bit simpler.
• Nuts. I use walnuts, but hazelnuts, pecans, cashews will work too. Almonds can be too hard, but this is a matter of preference. If you are going to use hazelnuts or almonds, I recommend roasting them first or buying them already roasted. Roasting gives them a deeper nutty flavor.
• Eggs. Egg size is M, weighing about 55 grams. Use room temperature eggs for best batter consistency.
• Vanilla Sugar. You can use vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) or vanilla sugar (1 tablespoon).

Let’s start cooking.

Prepare the filling.

Melt the butter over low heat.

Finely chop the walnuts.

Combine walnuts, brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and butter in a bowl. Mix well.

Prepare the batter.

Cream the room temperature butter with the salt, vanilla sugar and regular sugar. The sugar will not dissolve completely – this is normal.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the sour cream and beat again.

Gradually add the flour sifted with the baking soda and baking powder and mix until smooth.

Assemble the cake.

Grease a baking pan with butter and cover with parchment paper. Spread out 2/3 of the batter.

Spread the filling evenly.

Spread the rest of the batter on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (355°F) for about 40-45 minutes.

Remove the cake from the pan and cool on a rack. Slice and serve.

Enjoy!