Wellesley Coffee Cake--from Fran's Favorite's Cookbook

Coffee cakes were a staple in Polish kitchens in the Detroit area when I was a boy. You could find a bakery every couple of blocks. Many of the coffee cakes were yeast-based, but others were cheese, nut, or fruit-filled.

I baked a Wellesley Coffee Cake the other day. It’s a rich sour cream coffee cake with pecan streusel running through it. Fellow Aramcons (Arabian American Oil Company) who worked in Saudi Arabia may recognize it from a cookbook, Fran's Favorites, written by Frances Swingholm. All of her recipes were fabulous! They are my favorite type of recipes--hearty and homey! Enjoy!

Wellesley Coffee Cake--A fabulous sour cream coffee cake with pecan streusel.

Wellesley Coffee Cake

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add sour cream, vanilla and almond extract and mix well. 

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and add. 

Place one third of the batter in a well-greased and floured (I used baking spray and it worked perfectly) Bundt or tube pan. Sprinkle with one half of the nut mixture. Add one third of the batter, then the rest of the nut mixture and the rest of the batter. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until cake tests done. 

Cool for about 15 minutes. Place plate on top of cake and flip cake over on to plate. 

Optional: When cool dust with confectioners' sugar.

Nut mixture:

4 teaspoons sugar

1 cup pecans, chopped

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine nuts with sugar and cinnamon.

Polish Hunter’s Stew - Bigos

Polish Hunter's Stew (Bigos) goes well with a good crusty loaf of rye bread.

Polish Hunter's Stew - (Bigos)

1/2 pork tenderloin, cut into 1” pieces
3 links of fresh Polish or sweet Italian sausage
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound baked ham chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large can of sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium cabbage
1 or 2 tablespoons of butter
2 to 3 cups chicken stock
1/2 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup
Salt and pepper

In a large frying pan brown sausage in olive oil. Remove and transfer to large soup pan .Do the same with the pork pieces.

Sauté onions and garlic until golden in the frying pan. Add mushrooms, sauté for 10 minutes, add cabbage, sauté for 10 minutes. Add butter as necessary to keep vegetables from sticking. Transfer to soup pan.

Add the ham pieces to the soup pan.

Drain and rinse sauerkraut. Add to soup pan.

Add 2 cups chicken stock to soup pan. If you want more soupy stew, add an additional 1 cup of stock.

Bring to boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in mushroom soup. Turn off heat. Stew can be served now but it is better if you refrigerate it overnight to allow flavors to meld together. Reheat the next day and serve over boiled potatoes.

Seeded deli rye bread goes well with this dish.

We called this dish "Kapusta" which is the Polish word for sauerkraut, but the official name is "Bigos" or Hunter's Stew. It was originally made with whatever combination of meat Polish hunters were able to find.