Sour Cream Coffee Cake - From Taste and Tell

I have a "ton" of cookbooks with marked recipes and recipes printed out from websites that I just have to try. I have cooking magazines in order by date and name that have post-its sticking out of each magazine for recipes I am just "dying" to try. I believe there are over 3,000 magazines, uhmmm. . .I lost count trying to see. No, I didn't get all these by myself. I inherited all my Mom's cooking magazines, like the Bon Apetit ones from when I was just a little girl. Those, by the way, are soooo much fun to read and see what was the happening food of the decade. I thought I would like belonging to cooking groups on the internet a lot more then I actually do. You know the ones like sourdough cooking, taste of home group, campsite cooking, and bread groups. I just end up with tons of emails with recipes I do not have time to go through. Before Yahoo email started messing up my emails by deleting them daily, I had over 60,000 emails. . .no spam, just recipes and responses for these people talking to each other about the posted recipes.

Blogging feels more like an interaction with people around the world. I love it and I am totally hooked. The downside to this? I find and SEE the most beautiful food. People outside my immediate circle have the same interests and desire to try, test, and challenge themselves to create a food masterpiece in the hopes of discovering a new taste, flavor, or a relaxed moment of contemplation on what is being tried. Happiness is usually in the pleasure of others enjoying a new food creation. Maybe the creation is not new. Maybe it is a comfort food from the past. Blogging discovers other fellow food aficianados tastes in what comfort is and I get the inside scoop on all the mouth-watering details. Grouprecipes. com is my other joy for finding fantastic culinary ideas!

Well, I am definitely with Deborah at Taste and Tell when she starts talking about breakfast on the weekends. We love breakfast and look forward to Saturday with high hopes! This Saturday was no exception and when Deborah started talking about this sour cream coffee cake that she tested in her Barefoot Contessa cookbook; well, I knew this recipe was a must try because I adore coffeecakes and they are easy to put together while I am still not quite awake in the morning! We all nibbled on this wonderfully moist coffee cake all weekend. I even had a little left over to share with a couple co-workers Monday and they wanted the recipe to share with their wives. This whole cycle started from one blog entry. How COOL is that?!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

For the Cake

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sour cream

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Streusel

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For the Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.
Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Whisk the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.
Serves 8 to 10