Weekend Cooking...ATK Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

A lucscious cake topped with almonds and lemon sugar and filled with a lemon cream cheese filling.

That was the description. My, my..
Why does my work schedule always come up in my posts.
Maybe because it rules my life...
So anyhoo, the other night, there I was at work in the wee hours of the night..or actually the wee hours of the morning. Did you know that the average person is at their lowest metabolic levels at 3 a.m. in the morning? Which was just about the time I saw the episode of my beloved America's Test Kitchen that had this recipe on TV. I would have killed for a piece. Lemon..cream cheese..crunchy almond top...

But there was no one else there to kill, so I decided to just make my own as soon as I could. So hot as it is, I actually turned the oven on and dug my bundt pan out. It call for a tube pan, but I don't own a tube pan, so bundt it is!

Well, best laid plans. I was going to make this last Saturday, but we had this storm and lost our electricty. Some of us...happily not me...do not have it back yet.
So in the trash went the cream cheese and eggs and sour cream and yesterday I started from scratch again.

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Makes one 10-inch cake, serving 12 to 16

Ingredients:

Lemon Almond Topping

• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1⁄2 cup sliced almonds

Cake

• 2 1⁄4 cups (11.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄8 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1⁄8 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 1⁄8 cups (7.75 ounces) plus 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus 4 teaspoons juice
• 4 large eggs
• 5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1⁄4 cups sour cream
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

Method:

1. FOR THE TOPPING: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°. Spray 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray. Stir sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined and sugar is moistened. Stir in almonds; set aside.
2. FOR THE CAKE: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. Add 4 teaspoons vanilla and mix to combine. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of sour cream, scraping down bowl as needed. Give batter final stir by hand.
3. Reserve 1 1⁄4 cups batter and set aside. Spoon remaining batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Return now-empty bowl to mixer and beat cream cheese, remaining 5 tablespoons sugar, lemon juice, and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla on medium speed until smooth and slightly lightened, about 1 minute. Add 1⁄4 cup reserved batter and mix until incorporated. Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over batter, keeping filling about 1 inch from edges of pan; smooth top. Spread remaining 1 cup reserved batter over filling and smooth top. With butter knife or offset spatula, gently swirl filling into batter using figure-eight motion, being careful to not drag filling to bottom or edges of pan. Firmly tap pan on counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any bubbles. Sprinkle sugar topping evenly over batter and gently press into batter to adhere.
4. Bake until top is golden and just firm, and skewer inserted in cake comes out clean (skewer will be wet if inserted in cream cheese filling), 45 to 50 minutes. Remove pan from oven and firmly tap on counter 2 or 3 times (top of cake may sink slightly). Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 1 hour. Gently invert cake onto rimmed baking sheet (cake will be topping side down); remove tube pan, place wire rack on top of cake, and invert cake sugar side up. Let cool to room temperature, about 11⁄2 hours, before serving.
5. Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly with plastic wrap. For optimal texture, allow the cake to return to room temperature before serving.

Ok, it is delicious. Love the topping!

But...the bundt pan did not work. See, in the recipe, with a tube pan, the top of the pan remains the top when done and you put the topping on the top.

But, with a bundt pan, the bottom, would become the top, so I put the topping in the bottom of the pan and then the batter. Fine, except it stuck, something awful. Bad enough that I had to get the cake out in a couple of piece. So no whole cake pic!

But it still tasted wonderful! Just a little messy.
Hope you have a tube pan!

---

This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

---