Lucky for my wallet I'm not what you would call a Starbucks coffee fanatic - tea is more my poison. But one thing that would always get me in their shop was the reduced-fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake. Forget about it being low-fat, I was seriously addicted to the super moist butter cake with delicious bursts of cinnamon and brown sugar.
At about $2/slice it was turning in to an expensive habit so I wanted to find a version I could make at home. When I first saw Never Enough Thyme's Sour Cream Pecan Coffee Cake on Tastespotting I had a feeling it was exactly what I was looking for. One bite of the baked cake and I knew I struck gold. Starbucks doesn't use pecans in their version, but I love the addition of the crunchy nuts in this recipe. If you can believe it the coffee cake tastes even better after a few days. Eat your heart out Starbucks!
Sour Cream Pecan Coffee Cake (slightly adapted from Not Enough Thyme blog)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cups chopped pecans
1 tbl ground cinnamon
4 tbl brown sugar
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
In a small bowl, combine the pecans, cinnamon, and brown sugar.
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in the sour cream and vanilla.
Sift together the cake flour, salt, and baking powder. Start with your mixer on very slow speed and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Increase the mixer speed as you add more of the dry ingredients and the batter becomes thicker.
Put half the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the pecan-cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter. Add the remaining batter and sprinkle with the remaining topping.
Bake for about 1 hour or until a tester inserted halfway between the center and edge of pan comes out clean. You may want to check after 50 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan, slice and serve.
That looks really delicious! I always use chopped nuts in my coffee cakes as well -- perfect texture!
ReplyDeleteThis cake is a winner!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat is cake flour??
ReplyDeleteCake flour is a low protein flour made with soft wheat. In the store you'll find brands like Swans Down or Softasilk.
DeleteYou can also make a substitute by using the following:
1 cup cake flour = 7/8 cup all-purpose flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch.