When I was in college, a couple of the girls liked to bake in the kitchen of the girls co-op I lived in. The rule was this: you could use the kitchen on the weekends, or after the cook went home, but you had to leave some of whatever you cooked for “the house.” Since it was a community space, and our room and board paid for the flour, sugar, milk, ect., we all got to benefit when some of us had a hankering for a home baked treat.
Lots of little things landed on the large kitchen counter at one time or another, but none was as frequent, or welcome, as the sour cream coffee cake. It was one of those things that reminded us of our own moms, and sometimes filled in our snack cravings on those quiet weekends when the cook was gone and we were all kinda on our own for meals.
It was a basic coffee cake recipe, with a streusel topping and a nice cinnamon flavor. It’s great for a weekend treat when you have guests, or just to bake up for a snack to have around. With this version, I snuck in a little whole wheat flour (because, let’s face it, we aren’t in college anymore) and added extra cinnamon in to the batter (because it’s my favorite).
Bake this coffee cake, and the “the house” will thank you for the extra you leave on the counter.
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons cold butter
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 pan or a 10x10x2 pan. Mix together the streusel: mix all the streusel ingredients with a fork in a small bowl until crumbly, lightly breaking the butter up into smaller pieces. Set streusel aside.
- Mix together the batter: In a large mixing bowl or using a stand mixer and paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla on medium speed. Scrape the bowl as needed and beat about 2 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to combine. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the mixer, beat on medium low until almost completely mixed, then add the sour cream. Beat to combine. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just mixed. Try not to over beat or this will result in a less tender cake.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle 1/2 of the streusel topping over the batter, then top with the remaining batter. Finish by sprinkling the remaining streusel mixture over the top and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour.
- Cool at least 10 minutes before slicing.
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