Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake

Yum

Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake? Did I hear you correctly?  Yesssss.  We have a little electric company leaflet that gets handed out each month in our neighborhood, and in it they feature favorite reader recipes.  I added a little breakfast twist to this one, and voila. A way to eat cake for breakfast. You are ohhh so welcome.

What are we waiting for?  Let’s do this!

Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake

(Adapted from our local electric magazine 🙂

Ingredients:

3/4 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

2 cups sour cream

1 cup chopped pecans

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Just enough milk to bring glaze to the consistency you want

Directions:

Beat room temperature butter and white sugar together in bowl of stand mixer for about 5 minutes, until mixture holds together and becomes light and creamy.  Add in eggs one by one, beating well after each one.  Mix in baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.  Add flour and sour cream, alternating and mixing after each addition.  Pour half of the batter into a pan greased (more on this in a minute) 10 inch bundt pan.  Mix together the nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the 1/2 batter. Top with remaining batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  You may have to cover with foil during the last 1/2 hour of baking, if top gets too brown.

When cake is done, mix together glaze to desired consistency and drizzle over cooled cake.

My children, remember my wisdom?  The one thing I ALWAYS say when it comes to baking?

“Cold Ingredients are the Enemy of Good Cookies”

Anytime you make a baked good that is not “a quickbread” (like biscuits, scones, etc, where the directions specifically state to cut in cold butter), then you need to have your ingredients at room temperature before you begin. WHY MUST I DO THIS???  Well, if you want to cream your butter with sugar, then it helps if the butter is at room temperature. Room temperature butter will fluff up much better, and it will incorporate those teeny little air bubbles that make your cake light and fluffy when it’s finished.  Just take my word on this.  When you “cut in” butter, it must be cold.  When you “cream” butter, it should be room temperature.  You’re welcome.

Very good.  Let’s continue.

Start out by beating your room temperature butter and white sugar together in bowl of your stand mixer for about 5 minutes, until the mixture holds together and becomes light and creamy.  It won’t seem like your mixture is going to come together, but it will. Just be patient.  🙂  Just like relationships, cakes take patience and work. 😉  And hopefully, if you do it right, sweetness comes at the end! 🙂

After you cream your butter and sugar together, add in the room temperature eggs one by one, beating well after each one.  Getting the eggs (as well as your butter) out of the fridge about 1/2 hour before you begin will keep the butter mixture nice and soft and fluffy.  Cold ingredients make the butter harden up and ruin all that lovely softness you worked so hard to create. Don’t ruin this beautiful cake relationship by letting your butter become frigid. Trust me on this.

After your eggs jump lovingly one by one into the batter, mix in your baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Give the mixer a little whirl to make sure that all those little fancy dusts get mixed in.  🙂

Next, add in your flour and sour cream, alternating and mixing after each addition.  What does this mean?  Well, put in about 1/3 of your flour and stir.  Then 1/3 of your sour cream and stir.  Flour, stir.  Sour cream, stir.  Mixing wet, dry, like this just helps to keep your emulsion from breaking (that watery, weirdly gooey mixture that happens sometimes).  Don’t go gooey. Go great.  Trust me on this.  You are a very trusting soul today. But don’t worry. It will pay off in the end.

Now, let’s talk pan grease.  Say WHAAA???  Grease left in the pan after cooking? Ewwww.

No.  Wrong kind of grease.  “Pan grease” is just the “over the fence” name for what pastry chefs use to grease their pans to make those cakes pop out perfectly, every time.  Pan grease is just equal parts flour, oil, and shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco).  Throw that mixture (I use 1/2 cup of each) into your stand mixer and whirl it together.  Put that newly minted anti-stick power into an airtight container in the fridge.  Then anytime you need to grease a cake pan (especially bundts, which are NOTORIOUS for sticking), whip your pan grease out of the fridge and use a silicone pastry brush to slather that stuff into every crack, crevice, and cranny.  And no cake will ever stick in your kitchen again. You’re welcome.  🙂

So pan grease your 10 inch bundt pan, and then pour in half of your cake batter.  Mix together the nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and sprinkle this mixture over your batter. Top with remaining batter.  Now you have a nice little marble pattern of saaawweeeeet lovin’.  You’re welcome.  Bake your cake at 350 degrees for roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  You may have to cover your cake with foil during the last 1/2 hour of baking if the top gets too brown.

When your cake is done, take it out of the oven and let it sit for a minute or two, just to allow it to pull away from the sides of the pan, slightly.  Then  gently flip the pan over onto a cooling rack, and (because you were smart and used the pan grease trick) you should hear a gentle “Thunk.”  And your cake will fall out, perfectly intact.  When the cake cools, whisk together your glaze and drizzle it overtop of the cake. Gosh. You are so smart. I love working with you.

After that, cut yourself a nice, generous slice and pair it with a steaming cup of hot coffee.  Turn off your electronic devices.  Sit there and look out the window. Be in the moment.  Force yourself to slow down, stop, and savor.  Beautiful, isn’t it?

You did it. And I’m just so proud of you.

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