A Cake You Can Always Depend On

We all have them in our kitchens...those classic cookbooks that have been there for what seems like 100 years held together by some combination of tape and rubber bands because of a long storied history.  40 years ago there wasn't a million different cookbooks that you could reference at any given time or websites that with a touch of a button you had 1000's of recipes at your fingertips.  There were the classics: "The Joy of Cooking", "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", "The Silver Palate", and "The Good Housekeeping Cookbook" to name a few and those were what people cooked out of.  I look at the shelves now where my cookbooks are housed in the kitchen and among the many cookbooks on a gamete of topics that I have collected over the years,  there some of my mother's classics mixed into the group.  I don't know what it is but every time I open up one of those old books I become somewhat warm and nostalgic thinking about the meals we would eat growing up.  It's like every time I open up one of the Marcella Hazan's Italian Cookbooks I can't help but run through the sticky-note pages that denoted my mother's favorites recipes whether it be bolognese sauce, the tomato cream "summer" sauce or the veal stew with tomatoes and peas that we've ate for years and I know that we will continue to enjoy for so many years to come. The other cookbook that has come out so many times in our house that it's pretty much a miracle that it still has it pages is "The Good Housekeeping Cookbook" in particularly for the sour-cream coffeecake which page is stained with dried up flour and what looks like vanilla that probably spilled on it at some point during the numerous times we made the recipe over the years.   By no means is the recipe flashy or a show stopper but it's dependable and solid...something you always want when you're looking for a dessert to drop off at someone's house or just a simple sweet to enjoy over coffee.  Well the opportunity presented itself this week for the sour-cream coffeecake to make another appearance and as follows is the recipe for you to enjoy yourselves.

Sour-Cream Coffeecake
(from "The Good Housekeeping Cookbook")

In a small bowl, mix together:
-1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
-1/2 cup sugar 
-1 teaspoon cinnamon 
Set bowl aside for later use.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9-inch tube pan (I like to use a tube pan with a removable bottom because I find that it is easier to get the cake out after it's finished).

In a large bowl, mix together on medium speed until light and fluffy:
-1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
-1 cup sugar 

On low speed mix in the following ingredients until bended, constantly scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula:
-2 cups all -purpose flour
-1 cup sour cream
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Once combined, beat at medium speed for 3 minutes.  

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle half of the nut mixture and then repeat with the remaining batter and nut mixture.  Bake for 55-60 minutes until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and the knife comes out clean from the center.  Let cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan by running knife slowly around the sides.