Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe

A good coffee cake recipe is a must-have on hand and this one is absolutely my favorite because it’s so easy to make but also because it’s one that always gets rave reviews from people. Every time I take this with me to family and friends I get people asking me for the recipe.

About this cake

The batter is a butter-based vanilla cake batter with sour cream which gives it a wonderfully soft texture and crumb. Unlike a batter with milk, this batter looks dense with sour cream but it will all melt away and add to a rich, creamy yet light and airy cake. People often ask me how I coat the cake like this but it’s not a glaze or a crumble. The top is created like a crumble but it’s room temperature so it sinks and melts into the cake. That’s what we want because then we get these pockets of butter and cinnamon that taste absolutely delicious.

Ingredients and substitutes

All-purpose flour – I use regular all-purpose flour (not cake flour) for most of my cakes. Sugar – A mix of both gives this cake a nice color and texture. But you can certainly do all white or all brown as well. I would not recommend dark brown sugar as it will give you a different texture, taste, and color for the cake. Butter – I always use unsalted butter for my cakes so I can control the amount of salt but if salted butter is all you have, just omit salt in the recipe and use salted butter. Cinnamon – a wonderful spice at any time of the year. But you can omit it just as well. Sour cream – Gives a nice soft crumb and texture to the cake. If you don’t have sour cream, Greek yogurt is often a great substitute. You can also make homemade sour cream. Alternatively, you can also use buttermilk, it takes only five minutes to make homemade buttermilk Vanilla– priced like gold but so important to use good quality vanilla. I make my own vanilla extract, bean paste, and vanilla sugar.

Step by step instructions

Preheat the oven at 170 C / 340 F.Grease and line with parchment paper an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch round baking pan.Combine dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda – set aside.Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add egg and egg yolkFollowed by the vanilla extract. Next, alternate the flour mixture and sour creamScrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure you have a smooth batter. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan.

For the topping – combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Then, crumble in the cold butter until almost bread crumb consistency (uneven makes a better topping).Spread over the batter as evenly as possible.Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

The topping will melt and that’s normal. The butter will melt into the cake leaving the rest that creates a brown cinnamon sugar crust.Let cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before you slice and serve.