I’m starting to realize that life is short. I mean..I already know this but every now and then this thought enters my consciousness and I feel the need to SEIZE THE DAY. Then I get back to my routine and forget about it all, until I’m rudely awakened into remembering how precious life is.
Like this cake…I have this cake once a year. It’s really a shame that it’s only once a year. My mom makes it for Christmas day and she’s been making it for as long as I can remember. Us kids LOVE this cake. It’s apart of our holiday tradition and it tastes spectacular because it’s made with so much love. But why wait til Christmas day to eat this cake? Why not make it on a rainy afternoon in March when I’ve got the house to myself? I can certainly do that now that my mom gave me the recipe.
Do you know why it’s my most favorite coffee cake EVER? The outside is crispy while the inside is soft, moist and studded with a ridiculous amount of cinnamony walnuts. Did I mention that there’s a few caramelized patches on the outside? It kinda reminds me of a cross between an apple fritter & coffee cake. Yeah. You’re welcome. Wait. Thank my mom for this.
Life is short. SEIZE THE CAKE.
And we’re off!
Get your ingredients together. Everything is so simple. That’s why it’s good.
Butter & sugar get creamed with beaters. A mixer would be good for this too.
Eggs go in, one at at a time. Vanilla gets added in. Mixing happens and then sour cream enters the picture.
Don’t forget to make your cinnamon walnut topping.
Dry ingredients get mixed in.
Lube up and flour (I forgot the flour. OOPS) a bundt pan.
Layer 1/3 batter with 1/3 cinnamon walnut mixture. Repeat three times. It’s all fractiony!
This is the best part. Vanilla & water. This is the key.
Drizzle it on top of the cake. Magic happens. Then the cake gets baked for what seems like half a lifetime.
That is an exaggeration. I’m not patient when things bake in my oven.
Can you blame me?
While you’re waiting, you might as well clean the dishes and make your maple glaze.
Vanilla, maple syrup & confectioners sugar.
Oh HELLO.
Thanks for un-bundting. There might be a few patches. Whatever.
That’s why there’s glaze. It’s the photoshop of bundt mistakes.
I guess it doesn’t hide EVERY mistake. But I put flowers in the shot. Look at those flowers.
It’s all about the taste.
And really that’s all that matters.
Mom’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake
makes 12-16 servings
For the Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups butter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons each vanilla & water
Maple Frosting/Glaze
- 1 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 325F
Beat butter and granulated sugar together until light & fluffy. Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, then beat in the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir in the sour cream. Sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt together and blend into mixture.
Combine nuts, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Spoon 1/3 of the batter into a grease, flour-dusted 10 inch tube pan or bundt pan. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the nut mixture. Continue layering to make three layers of each, ending with the nut mixture. Blend vanilla and water in a bowl and drizzle it over top.
Bake cake for about 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 20 mintues on a wire rack, then remove from the pan.
In a small bowl, mix the confectioners sugar, maple syrup & vanilla together to make the glaze.
With a spoon drizzle glaze on top of the cooled cake and serve.
2007 - 2012 shutterbean, All Rights Reserved.
103 Comments
say somethingThis post makes me want to go hug my mom while stuffing my face with coffee cake.
Yum. I’m so making this- with mini chocolate chips added in… Because I can’t help myself…
Looks heavenly, this is one of my fiance’s (many!) favorite foods!
CEASE cake?! Never! Now if you said to SEIZE it, that I’d be down with.
I was thinking the same thing!
Hahaha what a great freudian slip, Tracy! I have a hideous cold, so I would very much like to cease the day!
This cake needs to appear in my life. Yum!
Cease the day sounds dire…
Can I cease today? I teach middle school…… lol
This cake looks AMAZING!
Seize my brain cells! What a dumb slip! HAHAHAHHAHA
I could eat coffee cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Love the vanilla and water trick!! Will have to try it!
I would like a slice of that cake and that blue and white polka dot plate, please and thank you
I have to make this cake! Love everything about it!
I’ve been looking for a recipe to use my awesome new bundt pan!
80 minutes?? that is a long to wait for this deliciousness.
Thank you, Tracy! I asked my husband a couple weeks ago if he liked coffee cake, and he said he did but he especially likes coffee cake with sour cream in it. I’ve been looking around for the perfect recipe since then, and I think this is it! This cake will be happening this weekend for sure!
Sounds AND looks delicious. Especially like that there is NO actual coffee in the cake. Thank you!
Also like – that you are on Instagram now, enjoying your photos
I’m hosting the women in my family for brunch this weekend, and I’m pretty sure I just figured out what to make
Also, seriously, I need to learn how you style your shoots. My food shots always look ridic when I add “props.” This looks amazing.
“Seize the cake” is my new motto!
Coffee cake is one of my absolute favorite desserts. I could be fasting and dying to fit in my wedding dress and I will still eat this cake.
On another note, this might be one of the reasons I’d totally choose to eat as much as I can and not lose weight. You and Joy had me cracking up, once again, on last week’s podcast!
Oh man…have you gone wedding cake tasting yet? Dangerous!
Oh wow. I seriously need a bundt pan. That’s the only thing standing between me and this cake.
I LOVE coffee cake, especially when made with sour cream. Your Mom’s version looks fabulous and I can’t wait to make it! Seize the cake!
Wait… there’s no coffee in the cake? I always thought coffee cake had to have coffee in it – does this mean it’s just a cake that’s meant to be eaten alongside coffee? I don’t like coffee (I know, gasp) so I’ve always skipped over coffee cake recipes. What have I been missing out on?!?!
your scarf looks like it’s been run over by a firetruck. weird.
I’m still waiting on that Lambrusco…
I like your mom for making this awesome cake. Mine buys coffee cakes and will occasionally make a box mix. As for me, after some tragic bundt accidents, I always spray the heck out of the pans with those baking sprays that have flour in them.
p.s. there is almost no black in these photos!
someone noticed! I was trying to challenge myself…. Glad it worked! xoxo
Yep, well done! I’ve been noticing a lot more color around here.
You have a way of being colorful with b&w though, so I think both are good!
Tracy this pictures are SO PRETTY. You are so talented. I’m off to seize the day by getting my hair cut, and maybe I’ll get a piece of cake on the way!
That looks AMAZING!!! Wish my mom was a baker…I guess I will just have to start traditions like this in my house when I have kids! : )
I wish my mom loved kale when I was a kid! WE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE FUTURE GENERATIONS.
My mom makes this same coffee cake for Christmas day also!!! Actually for christmas breakfast. It has become one of my absolute favorite christmas traditions, especially as I’ve gotten older and its not really about presents anymore
Also I have been craving this cake for quite some time and have had a little conversation going on inside my head about whether or not I should make it or wait till next christmas!!!! I think i’ve made up my mind:) hehehe
I want it. In my tummy. RIGHT NOW.
It’s those cinnamony walnuts that got me. Dang.
Seize the cake indeed! Mouthwatering!
Wow, this is definitely something you shouldn’t wait for once a year. It looks amazing!
- Sarah
A Girl In Transit
oh my gosh!
that looks SO GOOD!
YUM, thanks for sharing! One thing: your pics look like it’s one and a half sticks of butter, not cups. Is that right? Or are there really three sticks of butter in there? [not that there's anything wrong with that! ; ) ]
Mom knows best and this is just more evidence of that
I love all of the layers of deliciousness!!
I am loving this coffee cake and will be making it for my dad’s birthday tomorrow. Perfect timing!
WHOA. That looks amazing.
I have to try this…it looks yummy! Thanks for sharing.
whoever decided cake for breakfast was acceptable, was BRILLIANT! I hope you’re seizing every last piece!
Is there any way this can be made in a different pan? I’m not good with getting bundt cakes unbundted. What might you suggest? And how would I adjust the baking time?
Oh, nevermind. I see it can go into a tube pan.
this looks so good! Note to self: get bundt pan (it just looks so great in that shape!).
Thank you Mama Shutterbean!! This cake looks way too incredible for once a year. Seizing the cake refers to cookies too right? Okay good ’cause yeah, I did that.
MOIST.
Thanks Tracy’s Mom, I totes will be making this.
This looked incredible just from the picture, but when I saw the maple glaze I just couldn’t believe it. This sounds fantastic!
Oh my GOSH, I seriously think any baked good with sour cream is just the best thing ever. This looks AMAZING!
RIGHT?!!
Oh sure, NOW you post your Mom’s recipe when I’m on my green smoothie kick, (which by the way are simply delish, and thanks for the Vitamix blender advice). Dianne is coming for Easter so I am taking a smoothie break while she is here. This cake will be on our menu!
In my house it was always my dad who made the coffee cakes. This post brings back delightful memories of eating slice after slice with him around the kitchen table with cups of tea in hand.
I loves it when you use the bundt pan. This looks amazing.
What do you have planned for Easter up in here? I need a good springy drink recipe, we’re having an Easter Eve cocktail party and I’d love a good idea!
On the sidebar of the main page here, I have a sprtizer that would be lovely! It’s light pink!
Tracy, this cake looks sooooo ridiculously moist and yum. The last photo with the fork about to dive in seriously makes my mouth water.
This looks amazing. Your mom is quite the powerhouse of a cook – as her artichoke squares were seriously To Die For! I think this cake needs to go into serious rotation at my house – starting TONIGHT! (If only I wasn’t already at work I could make it now. *SIGH*)
My mom is pretty awesome!
i love draw something too. would love to start up a game. oh, i’m going to try this cake too, loved your earl gray chocolate one.
I read this post twice yesterday, and am now looking at it again thinking about how badly i NEED to make it this weekend. Its calling out to me! I don’t have a bundt pan, but I might just need to go purchase one. I won’t be shocked if I have a dream about this cake tonight!
Do it do it!
This is my kind of cake. YUM.
Looks good!! I’m going to try this cake
It’s so strange. I was just thinking of sour cream cake yesterday. My Mom always made it and I don’t think I’ve had it for at least 25 years. This looks dead-on delicious!
I made your mom’s cake last night and saved cutting it for breakfast this morning. What a good way to start the weekend! So good.
Good job on the patience front!
I made this for breakfast today and it was fantastic! I wish I would have done what Nikkilooch above did though, and baked the cake last night. Two hours for baking and cooling was a long time to wait for breakfast! But it was worth it in the end. I couldn’t believe how soft and fluffy the cake was in the middle.
It will last you all week. I should have put a warning on that!
I have this baking in the oven right now and the house smells divine. I used Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream since that’s all I had on hand. I hope it will still be as good as your mom’s!
oh let me know!!! i was wondering how it would turn out. I’m pretty sure it would still be amazing.
Hi Tracy..can you tell me the size of the bundt pan that you used. Thanks
Tracy, I love your website and podcast, but I physically cringe every time you use the word, “lube.”
Would it be even worse if I used that word on the podcast?
You say it out loud??
I just wanted to say that I did that cake for Easter and it was so freaking good. People were nuts about it. Thanks a lot for sharing one of your mom’s recipe. If you would like to see a picture of my cake, I’m posting it today on my blog:)
I want to buy a bundt pan just to make this!
just found this site, wow , made the sour cream coffee cake, delish…. hope to try more:)
I made this cake this weekend and it was out of this world good!!! Thank you and your mom for the recipe.
Made this cake for the second time and was loved by all my friends. Thanks a lot for the recipe.
Now that I’ve stopped drooling, do you reckon I could make this in a square cake tin? 8 or 9 inches???
I just viewed this recipe. I love the web page and look forward to making this delicious cake! Thank you!
This cake reminds me of my Mom! She made a cake like this one and it was delicious! I can’t wait to try this one too. Thanks for the recipe and the nice memories that eating it will bring.
Thanks a bunch, another variation… I don’t know what it is about this recipe the smallest ingredients altered change the whole cake..
Like your mom I’ve been making this for Xmas for years..
However this year I’ve messed with the butter amounts, unsalted vs. salted and the amount of filling and the technique in layering batter.
It can be tricky.
I did however use only Organic everything this year … and I have to say a cleaner taste and not as much bewilderment on the additives and toxic add ins..
Thanks again for the variation on the vanilla topping..
That’ll be my next variation thanks to your mommy… t
I made this for my Grandma last month at Christmas and she loved it! Kept saying how good it was while she ate it
.
I made this for a co-worker last week and her exact words were “This is THE MOST AMAZING coffee cake I have ever had”. Everyone in the office agreed. Too bad the announcement also went out that was the last baked goods I was bringing in. So thank you for providing this recipe so that I went out with a bang. My boyfriend heard so much ruckus about it, I am baking another this weekend!
Hi Tracy
Do I glaze the cake after the 20 minute rest or wait until it cools completely.
Just made this cake, and WOW. It is delicious. I’m eating some right this moment. Very moist, and awesome flavor with all that vanilla.
For anyone who cares about using a different sized pan… I was going to halve the recipe but the ingredients are obviously easier to third, so I took a gamble… I baked in an 8″x8″ pan. It seemed there was barely enough batter to spread in the pan before baking but I’ve ended up with about a 1.5″-2″ high cake and it’s extraordinarily tasty.
You could probably halve the recipe and bake in an 8″x8″ (or 9″) and have a taller cake.
Thank you for this recipe, it’s going to be a keeper!
Oh and btw… I baked at 300 (was using a dark metal pan) for 25 minutes.
Tracy I make this all the time and every single person who has eaten it says it’s the best cake they have ever had. I thought they were just being kind but I bake a lot of cakes and this is the one they all request when it’s their birthday/house move/kids birthday/they’re sick…any excuse! it’s so good!
Amazing!!!! You are good friend to have, that’s for sure! My mom would be so happy to hear that her cake is a hit!
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