Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Last week we had fajitas and the large carton of sour cream was on sale so I made sour cream coffee cake with the leftover sour cream. I remember making sour cream coffee cake in my home economics class in high school, although I think it was called something different like "food you can make" or something incredibly cheesy like that. Anyway, I thought it was really weird that the recipe called for sour cream because I thought it would make the cake taste funny. Our entire class did. Boy were we surprised when it came out of the oven. It was yummy and moist and you couldn't taste the sour cream at all! I was one surprised little high-schooler.



Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

For the streudel:
1/2 cup light or golden brown sugar, packed
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 4 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the 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 toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings