Pecan Coffee Cake

You might be wondering why the recipe summary at the end of this recipe looks a little backwards -- in the article I mix the dry ingredients before addressing the wet ingredients, but in the summary, I order them the other way. The nice thing is, the summary works in either orientation -- but Firefox doesn't! (This particular bug does not manifest itself in Internet Explorer, so if you are using IE, you won't see what I'm talking about.)

Look at the two recipe summaries below:
Summary #1 - Dry ingredients listed second - works in Firefox
<table class="TRN"><tr><td>1 cup (225 g) butter, softened</td><td rowspan=2 class="vertical">cream</td><td rowspan=3 class="vertical">beat</td><td rowspan=4 class="vertical">mix in 1 at a time</td><td rowspan=5 class="vertical">mix</td><td rowspan=9 class="vertical">fold in</td></tr><tr><td>1-1/2 cup (300 g) granulated sugar</td></tr><tr><td>1 cup (230 g) sour cream</td><td class="righthide"></td></tr><tr><td>2 large (100 g) eggs</td><td colspan=2 class="righthide"></td></tr><tr><td>1 Tbs. (15 mL) vanilla extract</td><td colspan=3 class="righthide"></td></tr><tr><td>2 cups (125 g) sifted all-purpose flour</td><td rowspan=3 colspan=2 class="righthide"></td><td rowspan=4 class="vertical">whisk to combine</td><td rowspan=4 class="righthide"></td></tr><tr><td>1/4 tsp. (1.5 g) salt</td></tr><tr><td>1 Tbs. (14 g) baking powder</td></tr><tr><td>1/4 cup (25 g) chopped pecans</td><td>toast</td><td>process to crumbs</td></tr></table>
Summary #2: Dry ingredients listed first - broken in Firefox!
<table class="TRN"><tr><td>2 cups (125 g) sifted all-purpose flour</td><td rowspan=3 colspan=2 class="righthide"></td><td rowspan=4 class="vertical">whisk to combine</td><td rowspan=4 class="righthide"></td><td rowspan=9 class="vertical">fold in</td></tr><tr><td>1/4 tsp. (1.5 g) salt</td></tr><tr><td>1 Tbs. (14 g) baking powder</td></tr><tr><td>1/4 cup (25 g) chopped pecans</td><td>toast</td><td>process to crumbs</td></tr><tr><td>1 cup (225 g) butter, softened</td><td rowspan=2 class="vertical">cream</td><td rowspan=3 class="vertical">beat</td><td rowspan=4 class="vertical">mix in 1 at a time</td><td rowspan=5 class="vertical">mix</td></tr><tr><td>1-1/2 cup (300 g) granulated sugar</td></tr><tr><td>1 cup (230 g) sour cream</td><td class="righthide"></td></tr><tr><td>2 large (100 g) eggs</td><td colspan=2 class="righthide"></td></tr><tr><td>1 Tbs. (15 mL) vanilla extract</td><td colspan=3 class="righthide"></td></tr></table>
In Internet Explorer, they both render as expected - but in Firefox, Summary #2 makes it look like the eggs don't get mixed in at the proper step. Using the DOM Inspector shows that the horizontal line separating "mix in 1 at a time" doesn't belong where it is rendered! I tested this with Firefox 1.5.0.1 and Firefox 1.0 - both exhibit the same behavior. If I change the code so it does not perform a style="border-left:0px" and uses a style="border-left:1px solid red" the line miraculously disappears! Unfortunately, this isn't what I want. I'm pretty sure this is a Firefox bug.

Summary #3: Dry ingredients listed first - border-right:0px replaced with 1px
<table class="TRN"><tr><td>2 cups (125 g) sifted all-purpose flour</td><td rowspan=3 colspan=2 class="rightred"></td><td rowspan=4 class="vertical">whisk to combine</td><td rowspan=4 class="rightred"></td><td rowspan=9 class="vertical">fold in</td></tr><tr><td>1/4 tsp. (1.5 g) salt</td></tr><tr><td>1 Tbs. (14 g) baking powder</td></tr><tr><td>1/4 cup (25 g) chopped pecans</td><td>toast</td><td>process to crumbs</td></tr><tr><td>1 cup (225 g) butter, softened</td><td rowspan=2 class="vertical">cream</td><td rowspan=3 class="vertical">beat</td><td rowspan=4 class="vertical">mix in 1 at a time</td><td rowspan=5 class="vertical">mix</td></tr><tr><td>1-1/2 cup (300 g) granulated sugar</td></tr><tr><td>1 cup (230 g) sour cream</td><td class="rightred"></td></tr><tr><td>2 large (100 g) eggs</td><td colspan=2 class="rightred"></td></tr><tr><td>1 Tbs. (15 mL) vanilla extract</td><td colspan=3 class="rightred"></td></tr></table>
This is the first time I've been less happy with Firefox than with IE. Oh well, you can't win them all. Maybe, one day, I'll resort to using images instead...

Anyone know how to submit a bug to Mozilla development? I looked really quick to see if there was a submission form, but didn't see it. I'll look again later when I have time.

(I've also noticed that sometimes Firefox will render tables with some missing vertical lines - a reload usually results in a "good" render. Intermittant errors in rendering web code shouldn't occur - should they?)

I would suggest clicking on the "Report Broken Web Site" link in the help menu of FF 1.5. In theory, a dev will get in contact with you and help you correct the problem. If you suspect a bug in the "Gecko" layout engine (aka "NGLayout"), then your best bet is to go to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ and see if the problem is already entered as a bug, or file a new bug report.

Hope this helps...

Kyle

After removing softened butter from paper wrapping; the wrapper makes a
great greasing instrument. Use the paper wrapper on the pan to be greased, greasing sides and bottom of the pan. They can also be refridgerated until needed.

Great website, I enjoy the receipes and information :)

As I was trying this recipe I came to the step where you add the sour cream. Thinking I had enough in the fridge I opened the container to see I had probably about a 1/3 C of sour cream. Not wishing to return to the store I used some heavy cream I had on hand to bulk it up to a little less than a cup (I didnt want it too liquidy). The result was very rich but not too overwhelming.

I can't imagine that a coffee cake with a cup of butter, a cup of sour cream, and two large eggs should be called "light and fluffy."

Obviously, it's not light and fluffy like angel food cake, but it is surprisingly light and fluffy in comparison to most coffee cakes. Trust me, you'll like it.

Can I put everything together the nigth before and cook it in the morning?

The cake is great. I'm a bit puzzled that there is recipe exactly the same on allrecipes.com: http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/mzingPcnCffCk.asp. Still, the cake is great.

Wow. I thought this comment was to inform me that someone copied out my recipe and posted it to allrecipes. Then I went to look at the recipe and realized that this comment was suggesting that I used the allrecipes recipe without providing credit - which seems like an obvious conclusion since the recipes are indeed IDENTICAL except for the use of 1/4 cup ground pecans in the batter and some slight differences in mixing order (which won't affect the final product). I've had recipes come out very similar to other recipes that I hadn't seen before, but this is probably the first time I've made something that came out so close to another recipe. I guess you'll have to take my word, that I did not plagerize the allrecipes recipe submitted by Vimala Naidoo. Hopefully, my track record will speak for itself...

Hi Michael,
I posted the message. I was puzzled because the recipe on allrecipes was posted first by quite a while, but yours contained the paragraph at the front that shows you created it yourself. That's all. The recipes really are virtually identical which is crazy, but I don't wish to imply that you copied it and took credit.
Have you considered crossposting your recipes to allrecipes? That would be really useful for some cooks, and might get more traffic for your site.

BTW the cake is just as delish' the day after.

This sounded a lot like a quickbread my grandma made for me once, so I had to try. What she made was a box mix, actually, but I haven't seen the mix in stores ever since then. I've been looking for a recipe like this for quite some time!

I prepared it basically the same, except I had no sour cream so I used 3/4 cup goat milk (its just what I have around, ok :)). I also left the crumbled pecans out of the batter. Instead of using a brownie pan though, I used a loaf pan. I poured half the batter in, sprinkled it with half the struesel, then repeated with the other half. It had to bake longer, about 50 minutes, but it was so worth it. The cake is awesome, and now instead of letting my mouth water at the thought of pecan quickbread, I can make it!

I used plain yogurt as a substitute for sour cream - still came out texture perfect with a little hint of sour.

Rather than using yogurt if you run out of sour cream, just use half yogurt and half cream. If the yogurt is too sour don't use it at all.
Interesting recipe anyway..

This was the first recipe from this website to give me trouble. The cake came out, well, too fluffy. The dough does not hold together, instead of being cut it basically fell apart left and right of my knife. The dough is done, with just the hint of moisture left, and it tastes absolutely delicious, but it is more a baking pan full of crumbles than a solid cake.

My only deviations from the recipe were probably [u:0eecf729ca]slightly[/u:0eecf729ca] higher amounts of sour cream and baking powder due to guesstimation of their volumes. What other factors could cause this?

cut when too hot?

cake doughs need a bit of cooling for the structure to firm up.

That might be the solution. After one night's rest the pieces I "cut" now have taken more or less solid shape and hold together. Thank you!

Almost any cake should be cooled for quite a long time after baking before being cut, at least for an hour, or until it has reached room temperature. Some recipes indicate a 5-minutes rest in the pan after baking and then turning the cake out of the baking pan onto a rack to cool, others are cooled in the pan. Certain chemical changes having to do with flavor are completed during the cooling process. This is true of most yeast breads as well. None of which means that the products can't be cut and eaten hot from the oven, but only that the product doesn't reach its full flavor and texture potential until it's thoroughly cooled. :-)

I love this site.

Can I use a pan of mini muffin cups instead of the large rectangular pan?

Absolutely, they wont dome like a more airy batter, but you can always bake things in smaller portions.

Just make sure that the individual cups all have adequate ventilation to ensure consistent baking.

If your not using paper, butter then flour.

I've just spent an hour or so browsing the site and have come away with 3 solid recipes so far. The porterhouse steak, the english toffee and this. I think my sunday morning breakfast is going to include coffee cake!

L-J