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sweet sweet lovin’

Recipe: sour cream coffee cake

Sure, that Spring Equinox might be right on the horizon – so close that you can practically reach out and smack it – but that’s not what I’m thinking about when an upslope storm hits my hood.


you know what this means, kids



It was really lovely skiing Monday. Freshies! And if I want to catch me some “almost spring” I can head down to Boulder, which I did today to enjoy happy hour with one of my buds who just returned from 2 months of field work in Africa. So nice to catch up. So nice to eat solid food!

peel and eat shrimpies

mmmm, gruyère fondue



The trees on Pearl Street are sprouting buds and it won’t be long before that lovely yellow-green of tender leaves begins to emerge like thousands of glowing green jewels in the sunlight. I get to straddle two seasons and I dig it!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a sweet recipe and I remembered that I had made a sour cream coffee cake for the chemo nurses for my last treatment. They all loved it and it’s no surprise since this cake is one of those goto recipes for me. I think I gravitate toward recipes with sour cream because of the moist crumb and also because they tend not to crap out on me at elevation in the oven. Still working out that whole altitude adjustment issue with my baking, but I’m slowly making progress.


adding eggs to the creamed butter and sugar

sour cream for outstanding texture



The cake batter is pretty standard: butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, flour, leavening. It doesn’t pour so much as plop into the pan, so you’ll have to do some spreading.

spread half of the batter around



The streusel topping is easiest to mix with a *clean* hand although you’re welcome to use a pastry cutter or fork if you don’t like to actually touch food.

streusel ingredients

after mixing



Once you spread half of the batter into a greased and floured pan, sprinkle three-quarters of the streusel mix over the batter, then spread the rest of the batter over top.

sprinkle the rest of the topping on the cake

cooling



Of course, once I had baked the bundt, I couldn’t shoot a cross section slice because I didn’t want to take a “cut” cake to the nurses. So I made a second one in my flat pan to carve a piece out and made Jeremy eat the whole damn thing.

great with coffee, tea, or milk



Sour Cream Coffee Cake
[print recipe]

streusel topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsps flour
2 tsps cinnamon
2 tbsps butter, softened

cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a standard bundt pan. Mix the streusel ingredients well and set aside. Cake: Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in sour cream. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and add to the wet mix. Beat until just combined. Spread half of the batter into a greased and floured pan. Sprinkle 3/4 of the streusel mix over the batter and then pour the rest of the batter into the pan. Top the cake with the remaining streusel. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs.

34 nibbles at “sweet sweet lovin’”

  1. Gigi says:

    Oh wow, the cake looks delicious! I just love streusel topping and any time I can add to a cake makes me happy. Thanks for a great recipe!

  2. peabody says:

    My friends have just learned that they don’t get the whole cake. They get almost a whole cake with one slice missing. :)
    It looksl like a good go to recipe. Though I am really thinking about the fondue.

  3. redforever says:

    Do you have a recipe you could share for the shrimp and the fondue?

  4. a. grace says:

    streusel rules.

  5. Francesco says:

    A very very lovely cake … and I’d love to get one of those gambas!

  6. Meeta says:

    That first picture is great. I know the feeling because yesterday morning we woke up and had a similar view. Everything was covered in snow – real bummer as we had warm wetaher over the weekend and the trees are blooming.

    The cake looks scrumptious!

  7. Woolly says:

    Nice view, although I am a little miffed at mother nature. It was raining in city when I left work but sure enough 3 inches of snow when I got home! I can’t catch a break… I need spring to arrive… BADLY.
    An now that you mentioned fondue I am gonna have to have some on the weekend! Cheers!

  8. Sarah says:

    I love coffee cake and that one looks easy and yummy. A good thing to bring into work on a Monday… :)

  9. LyB says:

    You can never go wrong mixing butter and brown sugar together then spreading it on a cake! I would just love to have a slice right now, it would make a great breakfast! ;)

  10. Amy says:

    I love this cake! It was one of the first ones I made when I was growing up in the kitchen. Thanks for the reminder – it will be great for Easter morning.

  11. linda says:

    Yummy bundt coffee cake! Never made me a cake with sour cream but will try it because who doesn’t like a moist crumb ;)

  12. Elle says:

    Beautiful view and beautiful cake, too! Looks delicious!

  13. Patricia Scarpin says:

    I’ll be craving this now. It looks delish.

  14. Susan at Stickygooeycreamychewy says:

    Wow. I’m sitting here with a cup of great coffee and…no cake! Then, I see this beautiful vision! Bummer. I want some of that cake! Sour cream coffee cake is my favorite kind. I use Paula Deen’s recipe a lot, but I’m giving yours a try. It looks just like the one a stingy old aunt of mine used to make.

    She was legendary for her baking, but she would never give anyone the complete recipe for this cake. She would leave out a different ingredient every time she gave it out, so no one else could make it the way she did. Everyone would always say, “Filomena, You are the best baker in the world. No one can make your famous cake like you!” When people finally started comparing notes and filled in all of the missing ingredients, Filomena was in deep shit! ;)

  15. Christine says:

    Jen – did Jeremy really eat the whole cake? Are you also married to a bionic man/gazelle?

    Your cake looks lovely, as usual Jen. Sour cream and yogurt are friends of bakers, in my opinion. They can do so much.

  16. Irene says:

    Cake looks great. I love sour cream in cake, it really gives it a nice softness. I’ve never made it with streusel (why not, I ask myself), so I will have to try. The view from the balcony is amazing! We are going skiing this weekend, and I can’t wait to roll around in the snow.

  17. zoe / puku says:

    Jen, that looks amazingly delicious, and quite simple! and Christine, that is hilarious – I think I might be *not married to but in LTR with* a gazelle!! stupid lanky boys, with their stupid freaky lanky metabolisms. ;)

  18. Coffee and Vanilla says:

    This coffee cakes look very good :) Reminds me cake I used to make a while ago… when I was younger… but I lost the recipe.

    Have a great day, Margot

  19. Taylor says:

    I’m making this tonight! Yum!

  20. Kevin says:

    That coffee cake looks so good with its streusel topping and middle layer!

  21. Jesse says:

    You made a whole other cake just so you could have a cross-section shot?? Wow… you must really… love us… I’m touched. *sniff* *hug*

  22. cindy says:

    OK, I’m feeling a little in the minority commenting on your food blog about skiing (you sure this isn’t a ski blog in disguise??), but here’s the deal: This weekend I did the craziest thing I’ve almost ever done in snow, which is climb a bowl above the lifts to catch some freshies. And I did so with superhuman (for me) strength powered by thoughts of you and how much you love the fresh pow. So I sort of took you along for a little psychic ride. (Did you feel it? Saturday at about 1:30?) It was hard up, and hard down—my Righteous Carving Skis screwing me the whole way down. But then hard can be good, right?

    Glad to know you’ve escaped the liquid diet this time around. But the hot flashes? Yeah. And stand by with the tweezers. All shit that happens anyway, I guess. We get it early, which sucks, but we’re alive, right?

  23. Eileen says:

    I could not resist and made a double recipe of this delicious cake last night. Fortunately I had enough ‘real butter’ on hand, but I had to make a special run to the store just to get sour cream My house smells marvelous!! Walking the dog this morning, I realized my coat and scarf smell like cinnamon, better than perfume! And now I have to figure out which lucky neighbors get surprise coffee cake. Your photos were so tempting I forgot I am on a diet!

    I very much enjoy your blog. Wonderful photos, comfortable prose.

  24. Tartelette says:

    Peel and eat shrimp and streusel cake….now that’s a meal I can handle with plenty of extra helpings! Send me some snow will you? It’s 75F right now and I can’t even start to think what summer is going to be like…yikes!

  25. jenyu says:

    Gigi – you’re welcome!

    Peabody – ha ha, you crack me up :) I can’t explain the whole food blogging/photo obsession thing to strangers or folks I hardly know :) That fondue kicks ass. I should try making that at home.

    Redforever – sorry, I don’t because it was happy hour at a restaurant and I didn’t think to ask for the recipes.

    A.Grace – I hear ya, sistah.

    Francesco – hee hee. You’ll just have to join us for happy hour next time!

    Meeta – oooh, I think snow looks lovely on spring buds (as long as the buds don’t get killed off!)

    Woolly – sorry man, I think you should probably move someplace warmer, no? post your fondue, won’t ya? :)

    Sarah – it’s quite easy and people love it. I hope your coworkers like it too.

    LyB – you are so right!

    Amy – great :)

    Linda – absolutely!!

    Elle – thanks :)

    Patricia – really easy to make ;)

    Susan – you have some the funniest stories. That aunt is a hoot. I’ll bet she’s not nearly the cook and baker you are today. xxoo

    Christine – ummm, I had one small slice, but indeed – he ate the whole damn thing (it took him a while). And yeah – he ate that whole cake and doesn’t even touch the treadmill, bike, or rower and hasn’t gained an ounce. I *made* the friggin’ cake and I think it made me fatter ;)

    Irene – oooh! Have a great time skiing and be safe! :)

    Zoe – how come we’re all married to these skinny men? wtf?!?! ;)

    Coffee and Vanilla – thanks sweetie!

    Taylor – yay!!

    Kevin – I’m a sucker for the streusel too :)

    Jesse – *lol* I guess it is a little odd, huh? Jeremy asked me the same thing, but I didn’t think twice about it. You guys are seriously worth it, no? :)

    Cindy – awww, from one ski whore to another, you rock! Thanks for taking me along. I might have felt it even (did you face plant? because I almost did!) Oh, I didn’t escape it… I get thrush every round (wtf?) but I’m used to it by now. I just take whatever I can get and run with it ;) xxoo

    Eileen – Oooh, I love when my jacket smells like something I baked :) Not so much when I cooked with garlic though… Your neighbors will looooove you :) Thanks for the sweet words!

    Tartelette – the reason it’s so hot over there is because you’re there! Hmmmm, I wonder if I can crochet some snow to send your way? :) xxoo

  26. Amy says:

    Ohhh how I love streusel. Not to worry, I can help Jeremy eat the rest. ;)

  27. Farida says:

    This cake looks soooo yummy. I am hungry now. I haven’t baked a cake for a long time. Time has come? :) I like your pictures, too. Great blog.

  28. jenyu says:

    Amy – oh, he would have welcomed your help!! Since I can’t eat as much as I used to while I’m on treatment, he’s stuck with all of the food I post on this blog! :)

    Farida – thanks!

  29. Chris says:

    Would you believe, I’ve never made anything with sour cream? I hear all these wonderful things about how sour cream really lends a beautiful texture to the cake, but, for some reason, sour cream has never made its way into my baked goods. I think it’s time for a change!!

  30. jenyu says:

    Chris – It was a while before I tried a recipe with sour cream in it, but once I did, I was hooked! It really makes things so nice and moist (I imagine it’s all that fat in the sour cream, no?) :)

  31. Jules Wiki: Jamie Things says:

    […] rolls Cinnamon oatmeal bread sugar-topped coffee cake Classic crumb cake Lemon cheesecake squares sour cream coffee cake Yoghurt Cake Banana dumplings Cream cheese frosting Eierkoeken carrot muffins Caramelised apples […]

  32. wendy says:

    What size pan did you use?

  33. jenyu says:

    wendy – I used a standard bundt pan (I’ll correct that in the recipe).

  34. Stephanie C says:

    I’ve been making this bundt for a while now and just wanted to stop by and say “thanks” for this recipe. Any time it’s someone’s birthday or there’s a church event, I always make this and it’s always a hit! I say this as I currently have one in the oven ;)

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