There’s a chocolate shop that I pass daily on my walk to work and the smell of freshly baked croissants hits me in the face every morning, taunting me, as if saying, “Come eat my buttery goodness!” That calling is the inspiration for today’s breakfast – a cinnamon sugar coffee cake.
As for that chocolate shop, alas, I have yet to stop and oblige the growl in my stomach with a sweet treat. A creature of habit, I’ve had oatmeal for breakfast probably 75% of the days that have passed since I started law school 8 years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I love my oatmeal and it keeps me from a 9 AM sugar crash. While I’m not particularly keen on croissants (that particular chocolate shop’s speciality), I do drool over the coffee cake in coffee shop display cases. And I’m talking about the actual coffee cake- cakes, not the ones that call themselves coffee cakes but are really some sort of Danish pastry thing with cream cheese and icing.
You know what I mean.
Anyway, a coffee cake-cake is always nice to have on hand, I say, especially on weekends, brunches and special occasions. Or for the occasional friend that pops by.
I’m sharing a recipe for a streusel-topped coffee cake that I got from my mom and is my family’s go-to cinnamon sugar coffee cake. She got it from this woman named Jackie. I’m not exactly sure who Jackie is…and neither does my mom…and she has no idea how she came to have this recipe – but aren’t those just the best kind of recipes?! Anyway, this recipe has been our go-to for years, and for good reason. Perfect with your morning coffee. Or mid-afternoon coffee. Or afternoon tea. Or…you get the idea.
Cinnamon Sugar Coffee Cake
A classic cinnamon sugar coffee cake with a sour cream base and a brown sugar swirl in the center.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 1 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ pint sour cream
- ½ tsp salt
- Topping:
- 4 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup nuts
- ½ cup brown sugar
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Step 2 Lightly grease a tube or spring-form pan and coat with sugar.
- Step 3 In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
- Step 4 In a separate bowl or on a piece of parchment, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Step 5 Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream and vanilla. Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.
- Step 6 To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon, and nuts, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle half of the topping over the first half of the batter, add the remaining batter and then sprinkle with remaining topping.
- Step 7 Bake until golden brown and set, 40 to 45 minutes.
- Step 8 Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.
