Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 extra large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil, preferably canola oil
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 small orange [about 2 teaspoons] mixed with 2 teaspoons sugar
Equipment needed:
a large tube pan, about 10 1/2 inches wide, preferably with a wide tube in the center, well-greased
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer, beat eggs.
Add sugar and beat until creamy (about 4 minutes).
Add vegetable oil and continue beating vigorously.
Add vanilla extract.
Add milk.
Mix cinnamon powder with flour; add to batter; mix well.
Add baking powder.
Remove bowl from electric appliance stand.
Using a spatula, mix in the chopped walnuts.
Grate the orange rind; place the finely grated zest in a plate and using the tips of your fingertips mix the orange zest with the sugar (Zest tends to get watery after awhile, so the fresher it is, the better it is).
Using a spatula, mix in the orange zest with the cake batter.
Pour the cake batter into a well-greased tube pan (There should be at least 3/4 of an inch empty at the top of the pan as the batter will rise substantially in the oven.).
Bake in a preheated 350 F. degrees oven until done -- about 40 to 50 minutes.
Remove from the oven.
Cool.
Notes
This style of coffee cake is very easy to do. Southern Italians often use cinnamon, walnuts and orange zest in "spice" cookies, I wasn't sure if the combination would work in a coffee cake, but I tried it and I liked it. Because it's a big cake and I couldn't eat all of it, I cut up some slices and froze them. I then toasted the slices when I wanted them, and found that toasting the slices made the cake even more flavorful -- tasted like a cinnamon bun. As cinnamon buns are hard to do, and this cake is easy to do, the results pleased me. Hopefully, if anyone gives this recipe a try, they'll like it. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi. |
