Sour Cream Cinnamon Coffee Cake

It's still January. If you made a New Year's resolution to eat only healthy foods, DO NOT make this cake! It is so very good. So good, in fact, that it might be hard to limit yourself to one slice. I am not a believer in never having treats, but I do believe in moderation. My saving grace was that I baked this coffee cake while I was at Mommy's house. And after I enjoyed a slice (well, maybe two) I headed home and left the cake with them.

This recipe is an old one. I got it from a knitting friend that I met years ago on Ravelry. I now have Ravelry friends like I used to have penpals. After a year or so of emailing back and forth, she drove down from Ohio and we got to meet in person. Somewhere in all of out correspondence, she gave me this cake recipe and said was a favorite. I understand why. Not sure why I waited so long to try it, but I'm glad I finally did.

The recipe says to bake it in a Bundt pan. I couldn't find one at Mommy's house. And I really wanted the cinnamon topping to be the top of the cake anyway. Because of the shape, you typically turn out a Bundt cake and leave it flipped over—top of the cake down on the plate. So it worked out that I used a regular tube cake pan. When I turned out the baked cake, I turned it over again so the cinnamon was on top. Another time, I might try baking it in a 9-inch loaf pan. As you change pan shapes and sizes, the baking time might need to be adjusted.

SOUR CREAM CINNAMON COFFEE CAKE

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream (8 oz.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Thoroughly cream butter, sugar and eggs. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Sift the flour together with baking powder and salt. Stir flour into butter mixture.

Spoon half the batter into a greased Bundt (or tube) pan. Sprinkle with half the topping mix. Carefully spoon remaining batter over cinnamon mix and sprinkle remaining topping over batter.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan about 10 minutes. Turn out onto plate.


My knitter friend said she has made this and cut the sugar to 3/4 cup and no one noticed. I used the whole 2 cups. Maybe another time, I'll try less sugar. But oh my goodness, this full sugar version was good!

Many older recipes call for sifting flour. I will admit that I often skip that part, like I did with this cake. Here's what I do instead—I stir the flour to fluff it up, then lightly spoon it into the measuring cup and level with a knife. And instead of sifting the flour with the baking powder and salt, I sprinkle those over the measured flour and used a wire whisk to blend the dry ingredients together.

And I must share one cake story. One granddaughter came in and asked what kind of cake I baked. "Coffee cake." In a real life Amelia Bedelia moment, she turned up her nose and said she didn't like coffee. When it was explained that coffee cake didn't have coffee in it, but it was a cake that was good with a cup of coffee, she cut a slice to add to her school lunch. Glad to have provided a learning moment!