Slimmed-down coffee cake is worth every extra step

I opened a recent issue of Cook's Country (not known for lean recipes) and there -- in all its full-color, high-calorie glory -- appeared a delicious-looking Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake with orange glaze dripping down its sides.

"Wouldn't that be a tasty way to start a lazy Sunday morning?" I thought.

Reading the ingredient list drove my hopes of ever making and sampling this coffee cake lower and lower: a full cup of toasted pecans, a half-pound of butter, nearly 2 cups of sour cream.

I ran the nutrition analysis to see just how many calories and how much fat a slim slice of that coffee cake delivered. The numbers that popped out of my calculator were anything but slimming: 416 calories (47.5 percent from fat) and 22 fat grams. Yikes!

I wasn't willing to turn the page and move on. So I headed into the kitchen to create a morning treat that doesn't lead to weigh-day regret.

I began with the pecans. One cup of pecans contributed over 750 calories (93.8 percent from fat) and 78 fat grams to the total cake. I didn't want to give pecans the boot since they're this coffee cake's pivotal flavor-maker. The best way to reduce nuts without losing flavor is to deeply toast them first. Using this little trick, I cut the pecans back to ¿ cup.

Next, I cut out half the butter (over 800 calories and 92 fat grams) by using my old standby; drained, unsweetened applesauce. My slimmed-down coffee cake still had a great butter taste and an excellent texture. Applesauce works best, since it imparts so little flavor of its own as to be almost invisible. Bye-bye fat and calories.

Sour cream imparts a tremendous flavor, rich with dairy-based tanginess, while also aiding the lighter, yet moist texture. It would have been easy to switch fat-free sour cream for the full-fat, but that fat makes important flavor and textural contributions, too. So instead of 1¾ cups full-fat sour cream I went with 1 cup fat-free sour cream (so long over 300 calories and almost 50 fat grams) and ¾ cup reduced-fat sour cream (bidding adieu to 125 calories and 14 fat grams).

Those three changes significantly changed the nutrition profile, cutting almost 1,300 total calories (80 per serving) and half the fat.

I baked my new coffee cake, finishing it with a cinnamon glaze, and brewed myself a most-excellent pot of Colombian coffee. I sliced the coffee cake, poured a cup of coffee and settled in with my Sunday paper. The slimmer coffee cake didn't disappoint, serving up all its rich flavors.

Does this coffee cake take some time and effort to make? Yes, I won't kid you. Is it worth that effort? Absolutely. Try it for yourself.

Cinnamon-Glazed Sunday Morning Coffee Cake

Filling

½ cup (about 1¼ ounces) pecans, dark-toasted (not burned), cooled and ground fine

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 stick (¼ pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs

4 large egg whites

1 cup fat-free sour cream

¾ cup reduced-fat sour cream

¼ cup pure maple syrup

1½ tablespoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup pecans, dark-toasted, cooled and ground fine

1¼ cups granulated sugar

1½ tablespoons baking powder

1¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons 1-percent milk

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the filling: In a small bowl combine pecans, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon and set aside.

For the coffee cake: Place a wire mesh strainer over a bowl deep enough to keep the bottom of the strainer from touching the bottom of the bowl and add applesauce. Set aside.

Place oven rack in the next-to-lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 12-cup, nonstick bundt pan with flour/oil spray.

In a medium bowl whisk eggs and egg whites, sour creams, maple syrup and vanilla until combined. Set aside.

Add flour, pecans, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer; at lowest speed mix together until combined, about 1 minute.

Measure ½ cup drained applesauce and add it to the bowl along with butter and half the egg mixture. Mix at lowest speed (turning mixer on-and-off to avoid splattering) together until just coming together, about 20 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add remaining egg mixture and mix at medium speed about 2 minutes, or until batter is light and fluffy (scraping down bowl sides halfway through).

Add 5 cups batter to bundt pan; smoothing out surface. Evenly sprinkle filling over batter; evenly top with remaining batter and smooth out surface. Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached. Do not overbake. On a wire rack, cool in pan for 30 minutes, invert onto wire and cool completely, about 1 hour.

For the glaze: In a medium mixing bowl whisk together sugar, milk and cinnamon until combined, thinning with additional milk if necessary. Using whisk, drizzle glaze over top and sides of cake. Slice with serrated knife.

Serves 16.

Cook's note: This can be made a day ahead and, once cooled, wrapped well in plastic wrap. Glaze just before slicing and serving.

Nutrition values per serving: 336 calories (29.5 percent from fat), 11 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 54.4 g carbohydrate, 1.1 g fiber, 5.8 g protein, 50 mg cholesterol, 361 mg sodium.

LeanNote: Concerned about cholesterol? No trans fat, unsalted margarine may be substituted for the butter.