Cinnamon Hazelnut Coffee Cake

Friends are coming over tomorrow for a post-"Race for the Cure" brunch, and in preparation I just finished making the best coffee cake in the world: Cinnamon Hazelnut Coffee Cake (with chocolate chips!). The cake is made with cake flour and sour cream, which make it light and moist. Most of the sweetness is in the streudel, so if you prefer a less sweet cake use a little bit less streudel in your layers.

You can make this cake in a springform pan or in a bundt pan. I prefer the bundt pan which makes a beautiful result.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups coursely chopped toasted hazelnuts (I use my cuisinart food processor for this)

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups cake flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

16 ounces of sour cream (one container)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the 12 cup Bundt pan. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer, until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla. Mix dry ingredients into the butter mixture, alternately with the sour cream, in 3 additions. Beat until well incorporated and smooth. Add chocolate chips and stir until well incorporated.

-Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the nut mixture. Spoon another 1/3 of the batter over the nuts, follow with the remaining nut mixture. Spoon the rest of the batter over the nut mixture.

-Bake cake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the rack to cool for at least one hour.

-Whisk powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl until smooth, and drizzle over the coffee cake.

This cake is delicious served warm. But it even tastes better the next day. Just wrap it with plastic wrap and keep it at room temperature.