THB#30 : Milk Chocolate-Walnut coffee cake

Hello everyone!  It has been a long time since my last update….since I last baked…..it was a busy year…..

Our 30th bake from The Home Bakers.  THB is a baking club organised by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, and we are baking the recipes in ‘Coffee Cakes’ by Lou Seibert Pappas.

This is my 2nd time hosting this event, and I’ve selected Milk Chocolate Walnut this time round.  Very simple and easy to make recipe which takes less than an hour to complete. Awesome cake!  A great start for me as I usher in the Year of Horse.

I made the full recipe with some modifications in one 8-inch square pan.  Modifications include :

• 3/4 cup sugar
• Fresh milk plus 2tbsp lemon juice instead of buttermilk/yogurt  
• hazelnuts

Milk Chocolate-Walnut coffee cake

Source : Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

Makes one 9-inch cake;  serves 12

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 3 tablespoons

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup buttermilk or low-fat plain yogurt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

6 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped, or milk chocolate wafers

1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars (reserve the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar) together with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer and beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to blend.  Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk or yogurt in 2 increments and beat until the batter is smooth.

Stir together the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon.  Spread half the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar and half the chopped chocolate or wafers.  Spread the remaining batter evenly over the top and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate and the nuts.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan.  Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.

Do check out all the bakes on this cake by other awesome home bakers here.