Sour-Cream Coffee Cake

By Robert Farrar Capon

Published April 23, 1994

  • Craig Lee for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(5,918)
Comments
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Here is a classic coffee cake with a tender crumb and a crunchy streusel topping that comes together in about an hour. It's quite rich, so your serving sizes don't need to be large.

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Ingredients

Yield:About 12 servings

FOR THE CAKE

  • ½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature

  • 1 ¼ cups/260 grams sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 ½ cups flour/188 grams

  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 1 ¼ cups/300 grams sour cream

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

FOR THE TOPPING

  • ½ cup/104 grams sugar

  • 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

  • ⅓ cup/70 grams chopped pecans or walnuts

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

45 grams carbs; 66 milligrams cholesterol; 348 calories; 6 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 18 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 216 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein; 31 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  2. Step 2

    In a separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with sour cream and vanilla until just combined. Do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.

  3. Step 3

    Make the topping: Combine sugar, cinnamon, flour and nuts in a small bowl and mix well.

  4. Step 4

    Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake and bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool, cut into pieces and serve.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
5,918 user ratings
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Comments

Emily Weinstein, Cooking Editor, The New York Times

Thanks, Vicky — we retested the pan size and found the recipe worked well in an 8 x 8-inch pan. You'll see that change here.

Vicky

This cake is really delicious but there is nowhere near enough batter by a 9x13 pan. I baked it in a 9" square an that was perfect

Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor

After reading about the issues many of you were having, we retested this recipe a third time. We brought the pan size back to the original 9 x 13. We also doubled the topping (although removed the butter) and decreased the baking soda. All of this should help with the overflow and/or sinkage some of you were experiencing. We also provided metric measurements for those of you who prefer to weigh your ingredients. Happy Cooking!

Leslie Genszler

This is the absolute lightest and richest cake I ever made! My guests couldn’t believe that I baked it. I used a Bundt pan because I couldn’t reach my square pans.

Rose

This cake was amazing - a huge hit & will be making again! I replaced all the sour cream with full fat Greek yogurt and reduced the sugar to ~150g. I also doctored the topping with some butter & 1/3 cup brown sugar (instead of 1/2 cup white). Baked in a 9-inch round, and the size was perfect.

Polly

I added 90% dark chocolate … 1/3 layer then 1/3 … omg … such a good recipe yum yum

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