Cardamom Coffee Cake (from the Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen)

4 sticks of butter

2 C packed light brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

4 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 T cardamom

2 C sour cream

For the nut mixture:

¼ c light brown sugar

1 T cinnamon

½ C chopped nuts (I used pecans today)

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. I used the standing mixer for this part of the recipe only – the rest is better done by hand to avoid overbeating.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Add this dry mixture to the butter mixture alternating it with the sour cream. (half the flour then half the sour cream, etc) Don’t overdo the mixing.

Spread 1/3 of batter in a well-greased bundt pan

Then sprinkle half of the nut mixture over the batter. More batter, more nuts, end with batter….

Bake in a 350 degree oven for at least 1 ¼ hours. Cool in the pan before attempting to remove it. Some comments on the internet mentioned that the cake dries out all of a sudden if over baked, so watch it closely.

Place a baking sheet in the oven one rack lower than the coffee cake – it overflows while baking!!

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