Today, June 5, 2016, is a good day to celebrate, to eat cake: its is the 34th anniversary of our wedding. The first year of our marriage, 1982, we lived in Sarasota, FL. Larry was a middle and high school teacher, I was an undergrad student, and we worked odd jobs on the side to put money away for medical school. We cleaned condos together, Larry worked as the mud boy for his brother-in-law's masonry business, and I worked as a waitress at a Mennonite restaurant, The Wagon Wheel (now known as, "Der Dutchman"). This coffee cake recipe is a result of my cajoling one of the bakers at the restaurant for their secret recipe. Somethings certainly stand the test of time, and this delectable morning delicacy ranks right up there near the top of that list. I am not recommending that you imbibe every morning, since the ingredients are more on the white, less nutritious side, but when you need something for a morning celebration, this cake will do just fine. The restaurant's cake was at least 3 inches tall and baked in an 8 x 8 inch pan. I doubled the recipe and made it in a 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan, resulting in a slightly less dense finished product.
My original recipe, written into one of my cookbooks.
Coffee Cake
1 c. butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 large eggs
2 c. sour cream
4 c. flour
Streusel Topping:
1 c. brown sugar
6 Tbsp. softened butter
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 c. pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
Prepare the streusel topping. I use a food processor, but you can also mix the ingredients together simply with a bowl and a fork. Place the whole nuts in the food processor; pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon and pulse just to combine. Set mixture aside.
With an electric mixer, beat the butter until fluffy; add the white sugar and beat for several minutes. Mix in the vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the eggs, beating until they are incorporated into the batter. Lastly, add the sour cream and flour with the mixer on low speed, alternating spoonfuls of each, beginning with sour cream and ending with the flour.
Prepare a 10 x 15 x 1 inch jelly roll pan by greasing well (or spray with cooking spray). Put half of the cake batter onto the pan and using a spatula, gently spread this out evenly. Using your hands, crumble half of the streusel mixture over the surface of the batter. Its a messy job, but well worth the effort. Now carefully dollop spoonfuls of the remaining batter all over the streusel layer. Gently spread the batter with the spatula, trying not to drag the crumbs into the batter. Finally, evenly crumble the remaining streusel over the top. Bake at convection bake 320 for about 27 minutes, until the cake top is lightly browned and the cake center is set. Best served warm.
When my kids were young, I used to tell them that if they were going to eat coffee cake, they'd have to drink the coffee, too. Sorry children. Maybe next time around, you will get a mom who doesn't love to tease.
Having our cake and eating it too. (Photo cred to Joel, who also got warm coffee cake).