A deceptive title as this cake contains no coffee whatsoever. It should actually be called "best ever cinnamon and pecan cake." Seriously, this is one of my favourite cakes I've baked in a long time. And to think I only baked it as I wanted to use up left over sour cream!
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Apparently this American classic is called a "coffee cake" as it's the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cuppa. It certainly is, although in my case my cuppa is always tea.
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It's one of those cakes where the flavours and textures wrap around your tongue in a very satisfying fashion. The topping (and filling) is heavily cinnamon spiced, sweet and crunchy with demerara sugar and chopped pecans. Underneath all that delightful texture is a soft sponge packed with aromatic, sweet vanilla. Sour cream definitely brings something special to the party too. The soft cake crumb seems to absorb the vanilla flavour more than usual... or perhaps I'm just starting to waffling rubbish.
Basically, this cake is full on with flavour and texture. I love it. It completely exceeded my expectations. I'm tempted to buy more sour cream just so I can make this cake again!
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Basically, this cake is full on with flavour and texture. I love it. It completely exceeded my expectations. I'm tempted to buy more sour cream just so I can make this cake again!
On a different note, I noticed that it will be 5 years tomorrow since I started this blog. How time flies when you're having fun!
Sour cream coffee cake/ utterly brilliant cinnamon and pecan cake
Recipe adapted from The Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook
(double the quantities and you can bake it in a 2.5L bundt tin)
(double the quantities and you can bake it in a 2.5L bundt tin)
125g softened butter
200g granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
125g plain flour
150ml sour cream (I didn't quite have enough so substituted 50g with plain yoghurt)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
100g chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
75g demerara (brown) sugar
Preheat the oven to 190C/ 170C Fan/ Gas 5. Grease a deep 18cm/7 inch round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Beat together the butter and granulated sugar for a couple of minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well (you can add a tablespoon of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling.) Pour in the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder then add to the other mixture. Mix until everything is combined.
In another bowl mix the demerara sugar with the chopped pecans and cinnamon. Pour half the cake batter into the tin and spread out evenly, sprinkle half the nut mixture on top, then cover with the remaining cake batter. Level the batter out again before sprinkling the remaining nut mixture on top. (I ended up not using all of the sugar/cinnamon mix, so add as much as you want.) Press the nuts down gently so that they stick to the batter.
Bake for 1 hour in the centre of the oven until firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.