The Cake Slice presents: Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake

Hellooooooo Cake Slice! My, how I've missed you so! We just started baking from a new book, and guess what... The first cake isn't a layer cake! (And from the looks of next month's poll, the second won't be a layer cake either...but shhhh... you didn't hear that from me!) Our new book is "Southern Cakes" by Nancie McDermott, and our first recipe chosen is the Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake. Wow, how insanely good did this cake smell in the oven!? As always, I used my new favorite cinnamon that I found at TJ Maxx. The coffee cake tasted great, and the dark, chewy raisins reminded me of an oatmeal raisin cookie. When I tasted the cake by itself, it tasted very plain. But luckily there's plenty of cinnamon-sugar, raisins, and pecans in every bite! Like a few of the other Cake Slicers, I had difficulty spreading the top layer of thick cake batter over the raisin/pecan filling. It looked like I had done it wrong, but once it baked up it looked great! A few things I'd recommend, don't toast your pecans first. The pecans on top get really brown. Also, some of the raisins on top of my cake got extremely dried out in the oven. Next time I'll plump them in boiling water first. Otherwise, a very fine recipe to begin our new year of The Cake Slice! To see the other bakers' coffee cakes, check out The Cake Slice blogroll!

Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake (from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)
(I halved this recipe and baked it in an 8 x 8-inch square pan)

For the cinnamon raisin filling
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 tbsp all purpose flour
3 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted

For the cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9-inch pan.

To make the filling, combine the light brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a 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, nut mixture and melted butter by the baking pan to use later.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir the vanilla into the milk. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer on high speed until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl to ensure a good mix. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.

Use a large spoon or spatula to add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir only until the flour disappears. Add a third of the milk and mix in. Repeat twice more until all the flour and milk mixtures have been incorporated. Stir just enough to keep the batter smooth.

Spread half the batter evenly into the prepared pan (it should be a very thick batter). Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the top. Spread the remaining batter carefully over the filling, using a spatula to smooth the batter all the way to the edges of the pan. Top with the leftover cinnamon, butter and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant and beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before serving in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm or at room temperature.