Sour Cream Coffee Cake

It’s the second anniversary of this blog!

The traditional gifts for this anniversary are cotton (in the U.S.) and paper (in the U.K.). To cover both those traditions, I chose a recipe that comes from Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten, a book which was printed on paper, and I wrote this post while wearing my cotton pajamas.

The traditional flower for this anniversary is lily of the valley. I’ve got that covered with some photos I took last spring.

Lily of the valley, outside.

Lily of the valley, inside.

Enough goofing around. There’s cake to be made.
Here goes.

I started by making the streusel.
Mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, butter and walnuts…

Brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl.

…until it looks like this.

Crumbly mixture.

Put that aside and make the cake batter.

Put the butter…

Butter.

…and sugar in a bowl.

Extremely soft butter and sugar.

Cream them together until light.

Creamed butter and sugar.

Then add the eggs, one at a time.

Add the eggs.

Then add the vanilla and sour cream and combine.

Vanilla and sour cream are added.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then add that to the wet batter.

Flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Cake batter.

Cake batter.

Now! Make a layer of batter in the Bundt pan,

Half the batter.

sprinkle that with the streusel (I used all of it in the middle),

All the streusel.

then pour the rest of the batter on top.

The rest of the batter.

Bake it!

Baked cake.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.

Add the maple syrup to the confectioners’ sugar.

Add maple syrup to confectioners’ sugar.

Whisk to combine.

Whisk it together.

When the cake has cooled for half an hour, invert it onto a serving plate (I raised the cake so the drips wouldn’t form a puddle all around. I think it’s prettier that way). Drizzle the glaze over.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

Then serve the cake.

A slice of Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

You can find the recipe for this very tasty, foolproof cake here.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/sour-cream-coffee-cake-recipe/index.html

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Total Time: 1 hr, 40 min
Prep: 10 min
Inactive: 30 min
Cook: 1 hr

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the streusel

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

For the glaze

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.

Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.