Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I have a funny way of backing into my cooking and baking plans. I tend to have something in the kitchen I need to use up, so I find a recipe that requires a large amount of that ingredient.

This time it was sour cream. Fresh Direct has these one-click recipes, where you choose a recipe and just click a button to make all the ingredients end up in your order. My problem is that I choose a recipe, like maple mashed sweet potatoes, then don't feel it's worth the effort to make. I just throw the sweet potatoes in the oven and then I have the other ingredients left over, with no use. For the sweet potatoes, I had a pint-size container of full-fat sour cream.

So of course it's time for coffee cake. I made it from a recipe in Baking Illustrated, which is my new favorite baking cookbook. Everything I've made from it has been pretty good, and a couple things, like this cake and the snickerdoodles, have been "ultimate" recipes that, to my mind, have no need for improvement.

It's a mammoth cake, so it's good to share around, but we managed to eat most of it between the three of us in about 4 days. I used up all my cinnamon and just about every mixing bowl I own. You start by making the streusel: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon mixed together. Then you remove 1 1/4 cup of that mixture and add 1/4 cup more brown sugar to it (this is the inside streusel); add 2 tablespoons cold, cut-up butter to what's left in the bowl and squish it with your fingers until the butter's in small pieces (this is the topping streusel, with the addition of 1 cup pecans, chopped, which I didn't add because I didn't have it).

For the cake, mix 4 large eggs with 1 cup sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla (also used up all my vanilla). Then, in another bowl, mix 2 1/4 cups (11.5 ounces) flour with 1 1/4 cup white sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Add 12 tablespoons cut-up and softened butter and 1/2 cup sour cream and mix on low to moisten, then on medium for 30 seconds. Gradually add egg mixture in 3 additions, then beat on medium-high for 1 more minute.

Layer 2 cups batter in a greased bundt pan, then half the inside streusel, 2 more cups batter, rest of inside streusel, rest of batter and all of the butter-pecan (topping) streusel. Bake about 50 to 60 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven, until a skewer comes out mostly clean (some stressel might stick to it if you hit a vein). Cool in pan for 30 minutes, then remove and cool completely (or at least 2 hours before cutting it). I have kind of a hard time getting it out, but I ran the skewer along the sides of the pan and it eventually popped right out.

Now I can't imagine actually following the above directions as written, so if you're really into baking and are looking for a place to get good basic recipes, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Sometimes the recipes get a little labor-intensive for the sake of perfection, but more often than not they balance ease and good results.