Jane’s Sweets & Baking Journal -- http://janessweets.blogspot.com -- September 2010

Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake

(This recipe is adapted from a combo of two recipes, both for a classic sour cream coffee cake. One can be found in John Barricelli’s book, The Sono Baking Company Cookbook, and the other can be found in Carole Walter’s Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter generously the sides and bottom of a 10" tube pan with a removable bottom, and dust well with flour, tapping out the excess.

For the topping:

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 to 2 and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (use the larger amount if you're a cinnamon maniac)

1 and 1/4 cups pecans, toasted and then finely chopped (toast in 350 oven on a baking sheet for about 12 minutes before chopping)

For the cake:

2 cups thick sour cream (I actually used 1 and 1/2 cups sour cream and 1/2 cup Greek style yogurt and it worked out great; I needed to do this because I miscalculated how much sour cream I had on hand to start with. I think you could safely substitute more yogurt for some of the sour cream if you wanted to do so, but I wouldn't substitute all yogurt for all of the sour cream. I suspect doing that might change the character and/or flavor of this particular cake.)

2 tsp. baking soda

3 and 1/2 cups All Purpose flour, sifted

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups of superfine sugar

2 tsp. kosher salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 and 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

To make the topping:

In a little bowl, toss together the brown sugar, finely chopped toasted pecans, and cinnamon, mixing well with a fork. Set aside.

To make the cake:

In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and baking soda; set this aside. In another small bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together; set this aside as well.

In the large bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the superfine sugar, butter, and salt on medium-high speed until fluffy and light, for 2 to 3 minutes. Halfway through, stop to scrape the bowl and beaters.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in the vanilla paste/vanilla extract.

On low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three batches, alternately with the sour cream. Beat well after each addition.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared tube pan. Sprinkle in half of the topping mixture, taking care to avoid the sides of the pan if possible. You want to kind of hide the filling within the batter. Use a knife to lightly swirl the topping into the batter. Add the rest of the batter on top of that, and smooth it out. Sprinkle the remaining topping all over the top of the batter.

Put the cake pan on top of a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Be sure to check the cake about halfway through its baking time and rotate the pan. If the top is already golden brown, cover it lightly with foil at that point and leave the foil on until the cake is done.

Cool the cake in its tube pan, set on a cooling rack, until it's almost completely cool. Run a thin knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen it. Insert the cake quickly onto a flat plate, then re-invert it onto your serving plate.