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So, what came first?
The cinnamon walnut coffee cake?
Or my failed attempt at a Valentine's Day breakfast casserole in your typical heart-shaped spring form pan? (affiliate)
Yep! The failed breakfast casserole!
(More on that escapade later!)
The breakfast casserole recipe I was testing may have failed, but luckily I had a backup plan –
I had been wanting to bake something delicious to accompany my morning cup of coffee.
There’s just something so cozy and comforting about watching the half-and-half swirl its way through rich coffee.
Especially when there is snow outside – and there is A LOT of it here in Idaho lately!
There's no shortage of recipes for coffee cake with cinnamon and nuts. The recipe for this coffee cake came from one of my favorite recipe blogs -- An Italian in my Kitchen.
I made a couple small changes – a little more vanilla, used sour cream instead of yogurt and I added a little oil to help with the texture.
After making those small changes, I put it all in that heart-shaped baking pan and was really happy with the result --
I haven’t given up on perfecting a winning heart-shaped breakfast casserole, though!
Stay tuned for that one!
Enjoy! – The Recipe Wench
20 slices
15 minPrep Time
55 minCook Time
1 hr, 10 Total Time
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1-½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-¼ cup sugar
- ¾ cup butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350
- In small bowl, mix topping ingredients (sugar, cinnamon and walnuts).
- Set aside.
- In large bowl, cream together sugar and butter.
- Mix in eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla extract
- In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add flour mixture to egg/butter mixture a little at a time until combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Turn all into a spring form (or bundt) pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
- Sprinkle topping over batter. (I like to take a butter knife and “swirl” the topping into batter so that the cinnamon, sugar and nuts bake down into the cake a bit.)
- Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (approximately 50-60 minutes)*
- *Check cake after 45 minutes or so -- if the nuts on the top are looking like they are browning too quickly, place a sheet of foil loosely over the cake for the remainder of the baking time.
Notes