THE ULTIMATE STREUSEL CAKE...

So call me crazy, but I've already starting planning my family's holiday menu. Yep, I'm crazy. But Thanksgiving and Christmas are my FAVORITE holidays of the year, so I'm always really proactive with the menu planning. Over the weekend, I was worked on our Christmas morning breakfast. Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast is usually Grands Cinnamon Rolls with freshly ground hot, vanilla coffee on the side. But this year, I want to change things up and make something that is homemade and from the heart. So over the weekend, I tested Martha Stewart's Ultimate Streusel Cake. I saw her make it on her show, Martha Bakes, and I just knew it would be a contender for our breakfast. Well, it might be the winner. This was SO good! It's like a moist, sweet pound cake with a buttery, sweet, nutty cinnamon streusel running through the middle. I could totally see my family eating this while opening gifts. Cheers to new traditions... :)

Here is what you need:

Pecan-Streusel Filling

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Pinch ground cloves

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon course salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

Cake

Nonstick cooking spray

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon course salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cups sour cream

Icing

2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup milk

Here is what to do:

1. To make the filling, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves in a medium bow. Stir in the granulated sugar, flour and, and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until combined and the mixture is crumbled. Stir in the nuts. Set aside. If you are making this a day ahead, store in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10 inch bundt pan (See note) with cooking spray. Set aside. 

3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside. 

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and  sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla.

5. Add the flour mixture and sour cream in alternate batches, starting and ending with the flour. So add 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 of the sour cream, 1/3 of the flour, 1/2 sour cream, then the last 1/3 of the flour. Beat each stage until just combined. If you overmix the batter, the cake will be tough!

6. Spoon half of the batter into the bundt pan. Make a well around the center of the batter. Spoon 2/3's of the streusel mixture into the well. Spoon the remaining batter on top of the streusel filling. Smooth it with a butter knife or offset spatula. Sprinkle the remaining streusel mixture on top. 

7. The recipe says to bake it for about an 60 minutes, but it took about 50 minutes in my oven. So my advice would be to test it with a cake tester or bamboo skewer at around 50 minutes. The tester will come out clean when it is done. 

8. When it is done, transfer the cake to a wire rack and let it cool inside the pan for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, invert it on to the rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.

9. To make the icing, mix together the confectioners' sugar and the milk until combined. Drizzle it over the inverted cake.

Note: I used a 10.5. in x 4.5 in. bundt pan like this one to make this cake. If you use the regular-sized pan (10.5 in. x 3.5 in), then you might need less streusel. 

Enjoy!

Images by me