Ina Garten's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Oh my. I should never be allowed to have two big events in back to back weekends again! As I had mentioned last, I was in the process of planning a baby shower for one of my best friends. Well, that was a week ago, and it was a hit! (If I do say so myself). I couldn't have done it without the help of some very special ladies...you know who you are!

The menu ended up getting tweaked a little. I did serve these biscuits, only I made them a little smaller to yield more from each batch. I also made some blueberry muffins that are a staple at my house. King Arthur Flour recipe, they hardly ever disappoint.

Since we were doing a brunch, we decided to go with coffee cake to keep with the theme. I love coffee cake. With streussel, without, warm, cold; I'll take it just about any way I can get it. After much searching I found the recipe I wanted to go with. It of course belonged to Ina Garten. I puffy heart love her. If I could be a guest at any Food Network personality's house, it would so be her. I think she'd be a great host and come on, she lives in the Hamptons! The recipe also called for sour cream in the batter. And when it comes to baking, I think sour cream makes almost everything better!

Notes from the chef (me): The original recipe called for a tube pan, which I didn't have. I chose to break out my bundt pan. I placed the first layer of streusel in the bottom of the pan, followed by a layer of batter, more streusel finished off with the rest of the batter. It took right at 60 minutes to bake completely in the bundt pan. Also, after reading several reviews of the recipe, I noticed many people noted that they needed to double the struessel, so I went ahead and did that as well. The ingredients in the recipe below have been doubled from the original.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

from Ina Garten

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs at room temperature*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

*I only ever buy large eggs. I decided to take a 4th egg, whisk it just a little, and then added half of that to the batter.

For the streusel:

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (this is the original amount, I felt 1/2 t would be too much)
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour a bundt pan
• Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light
• Add the eggs one a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients into the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to make sure the batter is completely mixed
• 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
• Sprinkle half the streussel topping in the bottom of the bundt pan. Spoon half the batter over the streusel toppings and smooth out with a knife. Sprinkle the rest of the streusel followed by the remainder of the batter.
• Place the bundt pan on a baking sheet just in case any batter comes over the sides while baking. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
• Let cool for at least 30 minutes before turning out.

Enjoy! This cake stores well up to 3 days in a covered cake pan. Heated up a little it tastes just as good on day 3 as it did the first day you made it!