Friday, February 13, 2009

Killer coffee cake

Hello, gorgeous!



I can't believe I haven't shared this with you yet! This is my go-to recipe if I'm having a few friends over for breakfast, and I think it would be perfect to share with your sweetie this weekend. It's a basic sour cream coffee cake, and it's so easy to make for those of us who suffer from the heartbreak of FOY.

I'm speaking of Fear of Yeast. Yeast breads are the one thing I haven't mastered. They scare me. Yeast is such a fair weather friend. If it's too warm or too cold, it gets an attitude, and that intimidates me. There, I said it. I've been meaning to try AnneStrawberry's dinner rolls. Anne says they're easy and I believe her, but still.

This coffee cake, however, is your friend. It's perfection warm out of the oven with its toastly layer of melted cinnamon sugar. I like to add about a cup of roughly chopped pecans, but you could do almonds or walnuts, or go nut-free. The original recipe appeared in Gourmet in 1990 (I think). I've made hundreds since and it has never failed me.

Before you start, make sure your butter is well softened. Mix the baking soda into the sour cream (allowing it to do its foaming over thing adds lift to the cake.)



I mix the topping in a bowl with a cover and shake it like mad. Then I cream the butter with the sugar, add the eggs one at a time, then alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream, ending with the dry ingredients.



Spread it in a buttered pan...



...and sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar topping (and nuts, if using) and swirl it in with a knife.



Bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes (I made three to take to a luncheon)...



Let it cool on a wire rack. Serve while still warm. It's harder to slice, but oh so worth it. You can thank me later.

You can find the recipe here.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Yum, I love sour cream coffee cakes. I will bookmark this one, it looks delicious.

You should really try to get over your FOY. Fresh bread right out of the oven is one of the great pleasures of life. We just posted a really easy pane rustica that was the first yeast bread that we ever made. You can do it!!
Sara/Imafoodblog

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Look at you with 3 cakes in the oven!! Sour cream coffee cake is divine, and your version looks fantastic indeed.

I'm tackling my FOY one recipe at a time. I've been posting, and most of what I've made is no knead. Use "instant yeast" and lots of that temperature fussiness is gone. You might have to order it but once you have it, yeast baking is so much better.
Nancy

Cakelaw said...

Hello gorgeous alright - this cake looks delish!

Liliana said...

These are the cakes I love best. Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe - I will be making it soon!

Anne said...

Those look amazing! I'm telling you, if you can make all the fabulous things, you can make some dinner rolls no problem! Let's see it girl! :) And let's have some of that coffee cake, too...