Coffee Cake Recipe

As some of you may know, my mom is a coffee cake queen. I would venture to say that it may be her favorite baked good/sweet treat. She’s won at the fair with her recipes and has done some clever ingredient changes. She gave me this recipe to make, found in an old “Look Homeward, Lafayette: Sesquicentennial Edition (1845-1995)” cookbook that is very tasty! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients:

Cake

½ lb butter or margarine (softened)

2 cups sugar

1 pint (1 lb) sour cream

4 eggs (add one at a time, beating well after each addition)

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Topping

½ cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Steps:

1.      Cream the butter and sugar.

2.      Add sour cream, eggs, and vanilla to the mixture.

3.      Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda & powder), then gradually mix into creamed mixture.

4.      Pour into a greased 9x13” pan. (The recipe also says you can use three 8” or 9” cake pans, or loaf pans).

5.      Mix together chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar in a separate bowl (I used a lot more walnuts, probably about 2 cups, in order to cover the top more).

6.      Take knife and run it down the cake in lines or swirls so that the topping gets into the batter.

7.      Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or when tester comes out clean (use a toothpick, it’s cheap and easy, unless you like the testers better!).

You can also customize this recipe by using different nuts for the topping, along with raisins, apples, or other fresh/dried fruits. The recipe says it freezes well. Thanks Jean A. Koszoru for your yummy recipe!

**Watch out for your broiler! I found that the higher temperature (375 versus the average cake/baking temperature of 350 degrees) was a bit too hot for our “vintage” oven. The top got a little crisp after the first 20 minutes, so I had to move it down to a lower rack. But nonetheless, delicious!