Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My mother made the most plush, tender sour cream coffee cake. It was moist and buttery, with the slightest sour cream tang and decked with a generous sweet, nutty cinnamon-sugar topping. Mysteriously, my mother stopped making my favorite cake around the same time that she began to harbor secret hopes of me wearing her wedding dress to my own nuptials. You didn’t have to be Hercule Poirot to solve that mystery. Alas, Barbie would have struggled to squeeze into that dress. Happily, this week, with a little detective work, my sister-in-law unearthed Mom’s original recipe for sour cream coffee cake.

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My mother’s recipe was a big cake intended to feed a large crowd or at least one or two hungry teenagers (ahem). Fortunately, National Post food writer Bonnie Stern’s mother also made an almost identical, scaled down version of this cake with one notable difference. In addition to the sweet crunchy topping, there is also a swirl of cinnamon-sugar filling running through the middle of the cake. The filling hits the right balance between sweet and spice in a curvy ribbon, an important feature of this  comforting cake. This treat can be prepared with very little effort and can be eaten for breakfast, served at tea time or enjoyed as a bedtime snack. As for my mother’s wedding dress, it was last seen at Hadassah Bazaar clutched in the slender arms of a glowing bride-to-be with Scarlett O’Hara’s seventeen-inch waist. Say yes to the dress…, I mean cake.

Mom, Jan. 08, 1955

Assemble your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 F. The recipe author recommends baking this cake in a 8X8-inch square pan or a 9X9-inch square pan. I made the cake that you see in these pictures in a 8X8-inch square pan. The cake rose above the sides of the pan and produced a high cake. I also made this cake in a 10 1/2-inch X 7 1/2-inch pan. This pan produced a shallower cake. I think that a 9X9-inch pan might be the best choice but any of these pans will work. Spray the cake pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper that hangs over two sides of the pan to form a sling. The parchment paper sling will help lift the cake out of the pan when it’s cool and allow you to cut nice even slices. Alternatively, you can serve the cake from the baking pan.

Place the pecans on a baking pan and toast them in the oven for 5-7 minutes until they have a slightly nutty aroma. Check on them after 5 minutes. Allow the pecans to cool. Combine the pecans, cinnamon, and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 4-5 times until the pecans are chopped and are well combined with the cinnamon and brown sugar. Set this mixture aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this mixture aside. Using a stand mixer with a flat beater, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed and beat until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Decrease the speed of the mixer to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream in 4 additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared baking pan. Spread the cake batter evenly over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture over the cake batter. Spoon the remaining cake batter over the filling and using gentle strokes spread the batter to cover the filling. Top with the rest of the cinnamon sugar mix. Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake emerges with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.

Print Recipe

Old-fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

By Bonnie Stern – Serves: 8-10

Prep Time: 25 minutes – Cooking Time: 45-50 minutes – Total Time: 70 minutes

Moist and buttery coffee cake, with the slightest sour cream tang, decked with a generous sweet, nutty cinnamon-sugar topping.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter (4 ounce stick), at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• Filling:
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 8X8-inch or 9X9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. (Please refer to the notes on the size of the baking pan above). Line the pan with parchment paper so that the parchment paper juts out over the 2 sides of the pan to form a sling (see photo above).

2

Place the pecans on a baking pan and toast them in the oven for 5-7 minutes until they have a slightly nutty aroma. Check on them after 5 minutes. Allow the pecans to cool. Combine the pecans, cinnamon, and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse 4-5 times until the pecans are chopped somewhat finely and are well combined with the cinnamon and brown sugar. Set this mixture aside.

3

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this mixture aside. Using a stand mixer with a flat beater, cream the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Decrease the speed of the mixer to low. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the sour cream in 4 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

4

Spoon half the batter into the prepared baking pan. Spread the cake batter evenly over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the reserved cinnamon sugar mixture over the cake batter. Spoon the remaining cake batter over the filling and using gentle strokes spread the batter to cover the filling. Top with the rest of the cinnamon sugar mix.

5

Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake emerges with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow the cake to cool completely before serving.

Notes

Freezes very well.