April 9, 2020–As a result of daily telework I’ve been catching up on my America’s Test Kitchen recordings. Since I’m eating actual breakfast more often I’ve been making blueberry lemon pancakes or waffles, buttermilk biscuits, etc. After viewing this episode from Season 19, I knew this would be a great addition and variety to my mornings. As with all of their recipes they have a “Why This Recipe Works” section. They use a food processor for mixing the cake and the streusel topping. To ensure the cake remained tender despite the use of the food processor’s blades, they used the reverse-creaming method. This allowed for the flour’s proteins to be coated with fat and prevented them from linking up and forming gluten when water was added to the batter. Having a thick batter kept it from rising over and covering the streusel and baking it in a springform pan allowed for a fuss-free unmolding that kept the streusel intact. I know it may sound like you’re using a lot of tools and maybe you are but I have them and never use them so this was right up my alley.
You should have all of these ingredients in your pantry: pecans, brown and white sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, butter, baking powder and soda, salt, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. Let’s make the streusel first.
While the oven is heating to 350 degrees, process the pecans and brown sugar in your food processor. Then process the flour, cinnamon, and table salt in the pecan/sugar mixture. Add the melted butter and about a teaspoon of water. Continue to pulse until mixture clumps like wet sand. Remove to a bowl.
Now, let’s make the cake.
Pulse the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, and salt the food processor. Add the butter and pulse until butter is mixed in. Add the milk, eggs, and vanilla. Pulse, scraping down bowl until it comes together.
Pour batter into a greased and floured 9-inch springform pan and smooth out the top.
Add streusel from the outside to the center. Do not press into the batter.
Bake, on a sheet tray, for 45-55 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 15-minutes. Remove springform and allow to cool for at least 2-hours. Remove from pan with an offset spatula.
Remove a slice and enjoy!
