Pleasantly sweet, light and fluffy, this coffee cake makes a great addition to almost any brunch, snack or dessert!
I laid awake thinking about Mother’s Day for about an hour last night instead of drifting off to sleep. Mother’s Day is kind of a weird holiday when you are in your mid-30s and you thought you would be married with kids by then but aren’t. I’m not against Mother’s Day, nor does it bother me the way it does others I know in the same position.
People like to say to people like me that if you are a woman, you are a mother. In some sense I get that. In another, I think it’s more annoying to hear. It feels trivial. After talk of the importance of mothers, it feel like an afterthought or a requirement for people to say. But it’s meant with kindness and that I can appreciate.
Anyway, as I laid in bed I thought about my mother’s mother. Even though she passed away when I was seven, she still influences my life. Most of my memories are of her in the kitchen. Between her and my own mom, I learned to love to bake. She had two deep drawers in her kitchen: one filled with flour, the other with sugar. I would open the flour drawer and sift it it powdered mountains. She was an incredible baker and cook.
When I came across this recipe a couple weeks ago, I knew I wanted to make it. My grandma made sticky buns and I immediately thought of her when I saw the recipe. I still have regular sticky buns in my list to make soon, but this whipped up pretty quick. And it’s fun to find a new recipe for my sourdough start.
I was pleasantly surprised by this coffee cake. It’s light and fluffy, sweet, but not overly so. This was a delicious dessert, but I think it could be lovely as a part of a brunch. This really is an easy, and a delicious way to use your sourdough start.
*Adapted from anoregoncottage.com
Carmel Pecan Sauce
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Cake
1 cup sourdough starter
1/3 cup melted butter or oil
1 egg
2/3 cup whole wheat flour (can also just use all purpose flour)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with foil (this is just to catch any of the caramel sauce that bubbles over.) Butter a 9-inch deep dish pie plate and place on foil lined baking sheet. Set aside.
For the sauce:
Combine 1/2 cup butter, brown sugar, and honey in a small saucepan. Heat on medium just until butter is melted, stirring regularly to avoid letting it boil. Pour mixture in the bottom of the prepared pie pan. Sprinkle pecans over sauce.
For the cake: Combine sourdough start, butter, and egg in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add flours, sugar, salt and baking soda. Stir until just combined.
Drop batter by the spoonful over the nut sauce topping. Smooth out with a spatula. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick come out mostly clean. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes.
Run a knife along the edges of the cake and the pan to loosen it. Place serving plate over top of cake. Holding both the serving plate and the cake pan carefully flip the cake over onto the serving plate. Remove cake pan and let cool at least another 5 minutes before serving.
Comments