Wife's “Walk-By Cake” a perfect recipe for sweet marriage

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JAKE DANNA STEVENS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Dunmore resident Mary Ellen Errico is this week’s Local Flavor: Recipes We Love contest winner for her ‘Walk-By Cake’ recipe.

Mary Ellen Errico knows the secret to a happy marriage.

The Dunmore woman said the 50 years she’s spent with husband, John, involve working together and having a sense of humor. Homecooked meals don’t hurt, either, and her husband has his favorites. One in particular he named himself: “Walk-By Cake.”

“He says he can’t walk by without taking a piece,” Errico said on a recent afternoon in her kitchen.

The cake is a jelly nut coffee cake that Errico’s made for at least 40 years. She picked it up from a group of women who all got together and traded recipes.

The cake’s recipe is straight-forward, she said. Her biggest tip to bakers is to be mindful of the jelly they use. If the jelly is too heavy, the cake might flatten, as it’s happened to her before. She typically buys standard currant jelly at Price Chopper.

“It’s honestly an easy kind of cake,” she said. “And John loves it. It’s his favorite.”

After a taste, it’s no surprise Errico’s husband needs to snag a piece of the cake when he passes it. “Walk-By Cake” was delicious with a fluffy consistency and a perfectly browned crust. The cake tasted buttery and was complemented by a sweetness from the jelly mixed with a bit of a spice.

Errico is a kitchen maven, having won the Local Flavor contest in 2013 for her recipe for Butter Crust Apple Squares and in 2016 for her Italian Pizzelles recipe. Her best taste-testers are her family, she said. First, it was her four children — John B., Mary, Dominick and Katie — now, the duties fall on her four grandchildren, Maria, Abby, Logan and Duncan. They know their Nana for her Italian specialties, like homemade meatballs and sauce, and for goodies like cookies and pies.

“They know they won’t be hungry at Nana’s,” she said.

Aside from quality time with family around the dinner table, Errico also cites having common interests as the key to a long, happy marriage. After all, she and her husband met through their love of the New York Yankees. When he found out she was a big Mickey Mantle fan, it sealed the deal.

“He went home to his father and said, ‘I found the girl I’m going to marry,’” Errico said. “And here we are, 50 years later.”

Contact the writer:

gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127;

@gmazurTT on Twitter

Mary Ellen Errico’s ‘Walk-By Cake’

(or Jelly Nut Coffee Cake)

For nut mixture:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

Combine and set aside.

For batter:

1 full stick butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2-1/4 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1-1/2 cups sour cream

4 tablespoons currant jelly

Cream butter until fluffy. Add vanilla, blend with sugar and eggs. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add sour cream alternately with dry ingredients. Pour half of the batter into a greased and lightly flowered tube pan. Sprinkle with half of the nut mixture. Pour remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. Drop jelly on top and cut and swirl into batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for one hour. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

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