Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

While I don't drink coffee, save the occasional light caramel frapp with whip on a hot day, I am a big fan of the Starbucks low fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake.  They're $1.95 a pop and if you go in there often enough, it starts to add up.  The cost, coupled with the sneaking suspicion that I could make it better than they could, led me to search for a way to make this myself.  Thanks to my epicurious app, I found this recipe.

This is probably the fifth time that I'm making this award winning recipe (I won second prize in a bake-off at work).  It gets easier every time. I mean hey, I had time to make dinner while putting this together.  I've copied the recipe below with VERY MINOR changes.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions

Butter 10-inch-diameter by 4-inch-deep angel food cake pan; dust with flour. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon and cocoa in small bowl.

 Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Spoon 1/3 of batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of walnut mixture. Top with half of remaining batter, then remaining walnut mixture and remaining batter. Using knife, cut through batter to swirl cinnamon mixture.  Run the knife from the outside of the pan to the inside back and forth until you get a pretty swirl like this.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack. Cut around pan sides and center tube to loosen cake. Turn cake out; transfer cake, rounded side up, to plate.

Cut yourself a slice and en-joy!