Classic sour cream coffee cake is a dense, tender cake with cinnamon sugar streusel running through the center and sprinkled on top, traditionally served at breakfast or brunch.
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What Is Sour Cream Coffee Cake?
Sour cream coffee cake is an American crumb cake with a center and topping of cinnamon streusel. You can bake a sour cream coffee cake in various pans, including round, rectangular, tube pans, and bundt pans. The addition of sour cream makes the moist cake extra tender. You can also substitute the sour cream with Greek yogurt for a similar effect. The cinnamon-sugar topping ingredients sometimes include pecans.
Origin of Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Sour cream coffee cake evolved from Austrian kaffeekuchen cakes. The cake gets its name because it is meant to be eaten with coffee, making it a fixture at American breakfast and brunch. Though coffee cakes have been around since the seventeenth century, the inclusion of sour cream came after pasteurization was invented in 1862.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake With Cinnamon Sugar Streusel Recipe
makes
prep time
30 mintotal time
1 hr 10 mincook time
40 minIngredients
For the cake
For the cinnamon sugar streusel
- 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the center.
- 2
Grease and flour an 8x8-inch baking dish.
- 3
Make the streusel. In a medium bowl, mix the light brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and pecans (if using).
- 4
Pour half of the butter into the bowl and mix.
- 5
Pour the remaining melted butter over and mix until the streusel resembles wet sand.
- 6
Make the cake. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl with an electric hand mixer). Beat on medium until light and fluffy.
- 7
Add the egg, vanilla, and sour cream and continue mixing, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- 8
In a separate bowl, whisk the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour until the dry ingredients are evenly distributed.
- 9
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture until just combined.
- 10
Add half of the batter to the prepared pan and smooth in an even layer.
- 11
Sprinkle the cake with half of the streusel in an even layer.
- 12
Pour the remaining batter into the cake pan and smooth in an even layer.
- 13
Sprinkle the cake evenly with the remaining streusel.
- 14
Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30–40 minutes.
- 15
Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
- 16
Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
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