Spicy Cardamom Coffee Cake

This is a recipe my friend Jen served at Easter brunch that I had to have the recipe for. It is very spicy (2 Tablespoons of cardamom!) and yummy. It is wonderful served with strawberries, but just fine on its own.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 12-24

Ingredients

• Cake

• 1  cup butter
• 2  cups brown sugar
• 4  eggs
• 4  cups flour
• 2  teaspoons vanilla
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 2  teaspoons baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2  tablespoons cardamom
• 1  cup sour cream
• 1⁄2 cup milk or 1⁄2 cup  cream

• Topping

• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1  tablespoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 cup  chopped  nuts (walnuts or pecans would work well)

Directions

1. Cake: Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.
2. Beat eggs in one at a time.
3. Add vanilla.
4. Stir in the baking powder, soda, salt, and Cardamom.
5. Stir in the floor one cup at a time, adding sour cream and milk as you go along.
6. Topping: In a separate bowl mix together the"topping" ingredients.
7. To Assemble: You can bake this in a few different style pans.
8. A bundt cake pan would work well.
9. I used two tall round 8" cake pans.
10. Oil your pans well.
11. Pour the batter in your pans- be sure to leave some room at the top as these cakes should rise.
12. Sprinkle the top with your topping.
13. Alteration: Instead of sprinkling the topping over the cake, you might prefer to pour half your batter in the pan, create an inside layer by sprinkling in some of your topping and then pour the remaining batter in your pan and sprinkle the rest of the nut mixture over the top.
14. You can always whip up some more topping if you need to!
15. To Bake: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
16. This is a dense cake and will bake for about an hour (in a bundt cake pan).
17. Keep checking on it by inserting a knife in the top.
18. If it comes out clean, it's done.
19. To Serve: Let the cake cool for a while (at least half an hour).
20. Turn the cake over and slide onto a plate (if you have used a bundt cake pan).
21. If you used a cake pan, loosen the edges of the cake pan with a knife, gently easing the cake up out of the pan.
22. If you need to, turn the cake over and gently tap it out of the pan, once the cake is out of the pan you can turn it back over onto a plate for presentation.