Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 72.
Maida Heatter states that she once received a marriage proposal over this cake and I am not surprised. It is wonderful and reminiscent of what you would find in a bakery. This is one of the recipes that I have long wanted to try and am just now getting around to it. It is simple to make and the batter is lovely (silky smooth).
As is often the case with me, despite going over the recipe beforehand and checking my ingredients, I somehow overlooked the fact that I only had 1 stick of butter. Since I needed 1/2 stick more, I substituted canola oil. If you decide to use oil instead of butter in any recipe, know that the equilvalent will not be the same - you will not need as much oil. The general rule is to use 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil for every 1/4 cup butter. Some sources I read say that this is not recommended for cakes but it turned out fine. Of course, the obvious thing to do is to make sure you have the correct ingredients on hand!
Nut Filling
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 TBS. cinnamon
1 TBS. unsweetened cocoa
2 to 3 TBS. currants or raisins, coarsly chopped
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
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| To make the filling, just place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix. I used raisins and did not chop them (I suppose currants would be larger and would require chopping). |
Cake Batter
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 oz. (1 1/2 sticks butter)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups sour cream
Preheat the oven to 375 and butter a Bundt pan (I was short on butter and used shortening instead).
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| Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. |
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| Beat the butter to soften and add the vanilla and sugar. Beat for a minute or two. |
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| Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Beat on high speed for one minute. |
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| Alternate adding the flour mixture with... |
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| the sour cream. |
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| There will be a lot of batter - notice how smooth it is. |
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| Now it is time to assemble the cake. Add dollops of the batter to the greased pan and spread in an even layer. This should be a thin layer. |
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| Sprinkle about 1/3 of the nut mixture over the battle. Now repeat with another layer of batter, etc. You will spread 4 layers of the batter and 3 of the nut mixture, ending with the batter layer. Bake for about 45 minutes (check with a toothpick). The book states to bake this for an hour but if I done that, I would have ended up with a burned cake. Keep an eye on it! When it is done, allow it is sit in the pan for 5 minutes. Prepare the glaze while it sits. |
Glaze
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 to 5 TBS. hot milk
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| Mix the confectioners sugar, vanilla and hot milk together, gradually adding more milk as needed for a fairly thick consistency. |
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| After sitting in the pan for 5 minutes, turn it upside down to remove the cake. Place it on a wire rack with parchment paper or foil underneath. |
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| Slowly pour the glaze over the cake and allow it to run down the sides. |
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| You can scoop up the glaze that falls underneath and pour it back over the cake if needed. Allow the glaze to set before serving. The cake is good served warm or cold. |
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