I baked up a pan of this cinnamon sour cream coffee cake on a rainy afternoon when I wanted…needed a sweet bite to nosh with my afternoon coffee. This cake is perfect for a quick afternoon baking sesh but it’s also ideal for brunch or an after-dinner treat.
Think of this cake as crumb cake meets quick bread. It’s a tender, not-too-sweet version of that little golden cinnamon cake that’s in the bakery case at Starbucks. This coffee cake is MUCH better and it’s always in stock. The cinnamon crumb topping is sprinkled inside and over the top, so it’s loaded with flavor and spice. There is more than a cup of sour cream in this cake which makes it perfectly tender and moist. This cake will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. In my kitchen, it was gone before it had even completely cooled.
Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Coffee Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups sour cream at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick) at room temperature
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon & Pecan Crumb Topping
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar very lighted packed
- 1½ cup pecan pieces chopped or crushed with rolling pin
- 2 Tbsp butter VERY soft
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside for later. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk; set aside.
- In a small bowl toss together the brown sugar, ¼ cup of granulated sugar, pecans, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cardamom and melted butter. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and whisk. Set aside.
- In a mixer beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, fully mixing before adding the next egg. Add the vanilla. Mix on medium-low, and add one-third of the flour mixture. Combine well, then add half of the sour cream. Alternate dry ingredients and sour cream blending well between each, adding another one-third of the flour mixture. Add the remaining sour cream, and finally the last portion of the flour mixture. Batter will be quite thick.
- Spoon about half of the batter into the prepared baking dish. Then sprinkle half of the set aside cinnamon pecan mixture evenly over the batter. Drop the remaining cake batter in dollops over the cinnamon pecan mixture and carefully spread to cover. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon pecan mixture on top of the cake batter.
- Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out without any wet cake batter. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool before slicing and serving.