There's yum.  And then there is Yum Yum.  As in The Yum Yum Coffee Cake.  Apparently it's a Chicago thing.  I can't say for sure.  All I know is that it is delicious.  It's not too hard to make, freezes well and does not mind air travel.  The TSA agents will try to steal it.  Don't let them.  This cake is way too special not to make it to the specified recipient.

 

The Yum Yum Coffee Cake

Filling:

  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Mix everything together in a small bowl and set aside - I hide it so I don't eat it all while making the batter.

Batter:

  • 1 cup butter - room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups sour cream
  1. Pre heat the oven to 350*  Get a 10" tube pan or large Bundt pan and brush it well with butter or using a baking release spray.
  2. Cream the butter with the 2 cups sugar in your stand mixer using the whisk attachment.  You can use a hand mixer, but it will take a while!  The butter should be nice and fluffy and almost white - about 5 minutes with the stand mixer on medium.  Stop to scrape down the bowl once in a while.
  3. In a glass or measuring cup, whisk together the 4 eggs and vanilla.  In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  4. With the mixer running, slowly add the eggs - this should take about a minute for them to become fully combined.  Scrape the bowl, then add 1/3 of the flour mix.  Put the mixer on low and let everything get combined.  Add 1/3 of the sour cream, mix, scrape.  Repeat, alternating flour and sour cream until everything is in the batter.  Stop the mixer.  Scrape off the whisk of the mixer and use your spatula to give a good scrape and few final stirs to the batter.
  5. Dollop 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out.  Sprinkle in 1/2 of the walnut filling - you know, the one you hid so that it wouldn't get eaten!  Dollop in another 1/3 of the batter.  Sprinkle in the rest of the walnuts.  Finish off the batter and spread the top fairly smooth.  Put the tube pan onto a baking sheet and slide it into the oven.
  6. Bake at 350* for about 1.5 hours.  The cake should spring back when poked gently and start to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Transfer the tube pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes.  Then invert the cake, remove from the pan, and continue to cool until room temperature.

Eat and enjoy life!