We were in the mood for a rich coffee cake that was not too difficult to make and could be done without a stand mixer. If you can avoid a stand mixer there is less cleanup and you don't have to worry about having butter come to room temperature. The recipe was adapted from America's Test Kitchen. Many of their recipes are easy and come out very well, but we made a few modifications on their idea with the buttermilk. Their recipe called for 1 3/4 cups buttermilk, but we substituted 1 cup buttermilk and added 1 cup of sour cream. The result was very moist and more forgiving if you cook it too long. Method Topping In a small work bowl add the sugars, cinnamon, cooled melted butter and stir until it looks like wet sand. Then add the chopped walnuts. Set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place the rack in the middle. Cake Prepare a 9 x 13 inch baking dish by spraying it with a nonstick cooking spray. In a large work bowl add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Whisk to work out any lumps. In the microwave, or sauce pan melt 7 tablespoons of butter, then cool. In another work bowl add 1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup sour cream, sugars, cooled melted butter and eggs. Whisk until smooth. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in until the batter is smooth. Pour batter into the prepared 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. Then place the dish on a cooling rack for 10 - 20 minutes. We like to cut the cake up and place at least half in the freezer. It will last at least a month that way.
| 
