MY FAVORITE SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

Between my three-and-a-half years of college, three summer time internships in between, traveling and gambling out with our band on the weekends, and apartment-hopping with pals for years after faculty — I truly experience like I lived with a checklist quantity of roommates throughout my twenties.  But certainly one of these roommates was an extra-special kindred spirit:

INGREDIENTS: COFFEE CAKE INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature 1 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups (12 ounce) reduced-fat sour cream 1 teaspoon McCormick Vanilla Extract, do-it-yourself or store-bought CINNAMON-SUGAR TOPPING INGREDIENTS: 1 1/2 teaspoons McCormick Ground Cinnamon 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional) OPTIONAL GLAZE: 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1-2 teaspoons milk DIRECTIONS: TO MAKE THE COFFEE CAKE: Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.  Prepare the cinnamon-sugar topping (see below), set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream collectively butter and sugar on medium-high velocity for 2 minutes till pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and upload the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, beating effectively after each one addition. In a separate bowl, whisk collectively the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add half of the dry foods combination to the butter mixture, and blend on medium-low velocity till simply combined.  Add in half of the sour cream, and blend till combined.  Repeat with the rest half of the dry foods mixture, adopted by the rest sour cream. Pour half of the batter into the ready baking pan, and unfold it round so that it covers the backside of the pan in an even layer.  Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-sugar topping frivolously on top. Spread the rest of the batter on ideal in an even layer (<– though be aware that the batter can also be sticky and tough to spread, so I suggest including with a spoon in little clumps, after which use a rubber spatula to assist unfold it out in an even layer).  Sprinkle the rest cinnamon-sugar topping frivolously on top. Bake for 30 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted within the heart of the cake comes out clean.  Remove from the oven, then drizzle with the glaze if wanted (see below). Serve warm.  Or permit the cake cool to room temperature, then hide and hold for as much as 3 days. TO MAKE THE CINNAMON-SUGAR TOPPING: Whisk all foods collectively in a small blending bowl till combined. TO MAKE THE GLAZE: Whisk powdered sugar and milk collectively till smooth.  Add extra milk if you’d want to thin out the glaze, or extra powdered sugar if you’d want to thicken it.

She and I lived collectively throughout my last semester at our tiny Midwestern college, the place I was wrapping up a stage in classical vocal performance (yes, opera) and she was reading the international of non-profit management.  And whereas our worlds seemed very special throughout the days, there was one factor we equally seemed ahead to within the evenings — cooking together.  And namely — cooking collectively for friends.

Both people had been simply studying methods to cook dinner on the time, and our repertoires had been quite limited.  But the nice information about studying methods to cook dinner in faculty is that there had been all the time lots of hungry and ready taste-testers nearby, our special roommates being NULL of them.  I was the professional within the residence on methods to make egg drop soup and pasta galore (which we beloved to toss on the ceiling once more then to see if it was executed ?).  And Nat was the professional on casseroles and cakes and all issues “comfort food” (for which she credited her small-town Kansas roots).  We had so a lot fun collectively that yr experimenting and feeding our pals all of our hits (and genuinely a couple of “misses”).  But with out a doubt, my most delicious take-away from that yr was studying Natalie’s recipe for methods to make in all probability one of the foremost fantastic sour cream espresso cake.

Many of you already experienced how life-changing this espresso cake can be, when you consider that this was in truth certainly one of the very first recipes I shared on the weblog once more in 2010.  But once I made it once more recently, I discovered how far down it was now buried within the recipe data and that too few of you appeared to realize it existed.  So for slightly of bit of a

Because in case you like some nice ol’ formed espresso cake, I’m telling you, this recipe is the absolute best.

And it also occurs to be especially easy.  (<– Trust me, if we may make it once more in these days, anybody might make it.)  ?

Just blend up a fundamental sour cream cake batter…

…and then whisk collectively a fundamental cinnamon-sugar topping.  (I used McCormick Ground Cinnamon, which has been doing nice work in my kitchen this vacation season.  I’ve already long past by means of NULL bottles!  ?)

Then you simply layer half of the cake batter in a baking dish, sprinkle on half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture, repeat with the rest cake batter, repeat with the cinnamon-sugar…and then bake to delicious perfection.

(Pro tip on the batter-spreading though: Since the batter is quite sticky, it's slightly of tough to spread.  So I suggest including it to the pan in small clumps, then spreading it round with a rubber spatula till modern and even.  And if the batter is sticking for your rubber spatula too much, simply spray it with some cooking spray!)

Then, if you’re truly feeling indulgent, you maybe ought to move ahead and drizzle on a fast and fundamental glaze.   I mean, you genuinely should.

Then, this beautiful espresso cake can also be capable to serve and enjoy.  (And yes, that yummy line of cinnamon sugar baked into the heart of the cake is the best.)

Seriously, I’ve made this espresso cake recipe dozens and dozens of occasions when you consider that college, and it by no means will get old.  And it’s all the time a crowd favorite.

And I love that each one time I make it, I’ll all the time suppose of Natalie.  ?  Thanks for the nice tales and nice recipe, candy friend!

Share this post