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Cinnamon and Walnut Coffee Cake
May 22, 2009
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20 Comments
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Cinnamon and Walnut Coffee Cake from ChefInYou.com
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I met a friend recently and she asked me for Cake baking tips – When I gave her (what I thought was most important one!) she laughed at me. What did I say? I said you have to cool the cake completely! Awe comeon – don’t smirk! Most of my disasters in cake making has been lack of this process. The recipe would be the best thing you can get – but ignoring few basic tips here and there would lead to a disaster! I have this Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake which was the last cake I made during my Basic-Cake-Baking-Tips illiterate days. After that, every cake I have made has been worth all the effort and I still am not what you could call as an expert Cake baker.
What are most important tips of baking/making basic Cake?
1. Greasing a cake pan is very important to avoid Cake from sticking to the bottom. While few recipes ask to grease with butter, few others ask for flouring the base. What works best for me is to do both. Grease lightly (butter/pam spray), use your hands. Then flour it with all-purpose flour. Make sure to dust off excess flour too.
Note : Depending on the type of cake, cocoa powder/powdered sugar can be used to dust instead of all-purpose flour
2.Always, always preheat the oven. No – starting the oven simply 1 minute earlier and placing the cake even before the oven is heated through is not accepted! It will only throw the correct cake baking time off-balance. Make sure you keep the rack right in the center (unless specifically mentioned otherwise in the recipe).
3. Using the correct cake pans always help. Most often, a given recipe is customized for a specific tin size. If you are just beginning with cakes, follow the same cake tin. With experience, one can start using discretion and make adjustment likewise. This avoids and take care of basic mistakes like filling cake batter to the brim. The batter should be half filled so that it allows space for the cake to rise. Also make sure to level the batter for a smooth surface.
4. Keeping all the ingredients at room temperature unless otherwise mentioned in the recipe is amiable for cake making. Also don’t forget to sift the flour.
5. For beginners, a metal cake pan would be really help to produce tender crusts and this is because the metal helps to reflect the heat away. But if you have to use glass pans, then make sure to reduce approx 25 degrees from the mentioned temperature in the recipe.
and last but not the least
6. COOL COOL COOL the cake completely before removing it from the pan.
With these tips let me go to the recipe. It just felt right that I post the cake tips with the photos of cake mistakes I made earlier. I forgot to cool the cake completely and in a hurry removed – the bottom got stuck and also the crumb which supposedly is the most tenderest of all, came out heavy. The next time I made the cake keeping my mistakes in mind, it was heavenly. Hope you don’t make the mistakes I did in order to enjoy this cake in its full favor. This recipe is verbatim from Taste of Home booklet.
MethodIna mixing bowl,cream shortening and sugar.
Add eggs , one at a time,beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
Combine the flour,baking powder and salt,
add to the creamed mixture alternately
with the milk.
Transfer to a greased 9 in square baking pan.
In a bowl,combine the flour,sugar and cinnamon;
cut in butter until mixture resembled coarse crumbs. Stir in nuts.
Sprinkle over the top.Bake at 350F for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack
See the dense mixture inside? The cake still tastes good but only until you taste the original 
So when you make this cake next time, simply make sure to follow the tips and you will see how simple cake baking is actually is! Why dont you start off your cake making with this recipe?
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your recipes are great! I simply love them. Could you share with me the secrets to good wedding cakes plsssss.
Lovely step by step cake baking. I was hunting for such tips. I am yet to start baking. I have recently purchased convention one MW. let me see. I still scared to attempt it. By the what do you mean by wire rack. can i buy it from the market.
Hi Kaushalya – wire rack are good to have but not must. The wire rack is just to cool down your baked goods. Something like this http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vsVYhJZGIrw/SAQHL42p0ZI/AAAAAAAAIb0/B8Zc4LMiXLM/s400/lemoncookies_rack1.jpg – you probably can buy it from stores which sell baking pans and stuff…u can cool it in your baking sheet too – u can easily skip buying it.:)
Yummy! I’ve made similar coffee cakes with egg-replacer when I was eating a vegan diet. Worked quite well. I’ve since gone back to a mostly vegetarian diet as it is so much easier… and my body feels healthier.
I love your recipes! You are providing a get service here.
Thank you
your comment made my day and I am glad you like what you see!
Your coffeecake looks delicious. The texture looks just perfect.
Looks great! Got to try it soon!
Had been drooling at your space since long….and hey if I have to make this eggless…….what do I do…..please lemme know….dying to eat this one….looks so yum….
Hey Rupa, thanks for dropping in
Making this eggless is v easy – you can do it the following ways – to replace one egg in this recipe you need an equivalent of 1/4 cup of some other liquid ingredient ( so total 1/2 cup for 2 eggs) – You can either add more milk .i.e 1-1/2 cup instead of 1 – or go for 1/2 cup vegetable oil (dont use olive oil) – you can use 1/2 cup applesauce (but that cud change the taste)…. If you want I can post an eggless version of this recipe soon at chefinyou – lemme know if it would make it easier for you 
Wow wow wow the cake looks mouth watering..i havent still made any cakes with crumble..must a try for me..will let u know
thanks for all the valuable tips 
I have had my share of collapsed cakes too DK! But sometimes I see that if we leave the cake for quite sometime in the tin itself, condensation forms making it soggy.
I have not yet tried a streussel topped cake before. Looks beautiful.
I just found your site and I love it… Your index is perfect and so easy to use… I can’t wait to see everything you have here
Hi Meeso
Thanks a bunch – it sure made my day and i hope you find everything fine for a delicious dine 
Ok so as soon as i get my oven, i am gonna get back to u, and then you will not have much options to escape from my most ridiculous queries regarding baking, coz mind you i even had not started with B of baking. Till then live a peaceful life..and then u cannot say that i didn’t warned u, coz if u will meticulously explain such details, i will surely bother u for all the baking recipes…lol
I so love you alka
LOL! More the queries better it is for me….At one time I thought teaching would have been perfect for me since I love explaining whatever I know in meticulous detail….and furthermore , I learn better this way 
I cant wait for you to get an Oven!!!! 
and don’t lick the spoon and put it back in the batter.
LOL! I laughed at this one for 10 whole minutes much to the chagrin my better half! But I have to ask! How the heck did you find out ?;)
Quite helpful tips Dhivya! Thanks for sharing. Cake looks so yummy and perfect.
Sonu (sevenspice.wordpress.com)
Dearie.Thanks for the tip and what you said is perfectly true.It used to happen to me.(I must say it still happens due to my impatience).But If we overlook the basics,we will be left with a cake that may taste good,but cannot be a cake.
Oh yeah – this cinnamon cake was also result of the same issue – I was leaving to take it to my work meeting and since I was getting late my patience had taken leave of absence…this should have been mind blowing yummy, but due to this mistake it turned just yummy!
I have made mistakes 1 & 3 number of times and learned from my mistakes. Great tips for baking. Cake looks yummy.
I am the same, always in a hurry to take the cake out. And then half of it gets stuck or some other disaster happens.
Cake looks scrumptious! Great tips too!!
Thanks for the tips. Am sure this will help many to-be bakers. Cake looks yummy. Loved the toppings.
This looks like a lovely cake but I can’t resist replying to your tips. I was really surprised to hear you say that the cake has to cool completely in the tin. I have been making cakes since I was small and I always cool the cake on a wire rack. However, I have learnt that to leave the cake in the tin for 5 – 10 mins before turning out can stop it collapsing. The other thing I do which helps with this method is that I line the bottom of the tin with baking paper. I am sure your way works for you but as I have been brought up with a different method I thought I would let you know it works too. After all, it would be much harder to cut myself a piece of warm cake if it was still in the tin
Oh yes – you are absolutely right Johanna…I cool it for few mintes and take it out too..but I think owing to the fact that U have been making cakes for a loong time, you know the correct state of the cake when it is fit enough to remove it. For not so expert cake baker that I am , I find most of the time the basic’est cakes benefit from these tips…since we know that flouring is not required for sponge cakes, angel cakes etc…I use baking paper too..but I sometime feel quite lazy to cut it out to fit it to my pan – i hate to do half a**ed job – so I dont do it at all , buttering and flouring is so much faster….yes I do agree that there is nothing like a warm cake…but then a few seconds in the m/w brings back the warmth and with the added bonus of delicious crumb too….May be some day I would get an expert eye like you and bake cakes in jiffy and not worry about sticky bottoms and dense crumbs!
Dhivi, this looks so fantastic. I’ve been craving coffee cake! Out of curiosity, can I use butter instead of shortening? I ask since I don’t have any shortening on hand. Btw, I love the new site! Congrats, dear!
Oh great – u r back! Great to see you dear! Oh yes – u can use butter totally – it works well!
Dhivya,
This looks fantastic!!!! Can’t wait to try it
Kanchana