Today I’m sharing a special recipe, a recipe that reminds me of my mom. I’m lucky to have grown up in a family where cooking was encouraged and both my parents are excellent cooks. It’s because of my parents that I am confident in the kitchen, whether that’s following a recipe or creating my own. Growing up, we enjoyed this sour cream coffee all the time. On special occasions, to bring to someone’s house, or for just a regular Saturday morning. This recipe was written in pencil on an index card, so you know it’s good. Simple ingredients come together for a coffee cake recipe that’s pure nostalgia.
When I was little, my mom stayed home with my three brothers and I on weekdays adn worked two 12 hour shifts on weekends as a nurse. Now that I’m a mom of four myself, I can’t imagine doing that. How tired she must have been, how short her patience. But I never remember her raising her voice at us. I remember her taking us to the park and the library. Reading to us, encouraging us, inspiring us. Shutting us to practices and attending cross country meets in the sun. Bundling us up to go sledding during Chicago winters and making sure we all had sunscreen when we escaped to the lake on humid summer days. I remember packing the station wagon and going on family camping trips even when I’m sure she didn’t really want to. I remember that she took me shopping in downtown Chicago every year on my birthday and we had lunch in the Walnut Room. When I told her that her only daughter wanted to go to West Point and join the army, she just told me how proud she was. She never showed it if she was scared, even when I was 24 years old deployed to Afghanistan. She’s been here after I’ve had each of my babies to make sure I’m resting and take care of me. If I’ve learned anything about motherhood, it’s that I need my mom more as I’ve gotten older and had kids myself. My mom is the kindest, most compassionate person I know. I’m lucky to have her as an example and I hope to be half the mom to my kids that she has always been to me. Sharing her recipe on my blog today brings me such joy, and baking this recipe in my own kitchen brings me right back to the kitchen I learned to love cooking it. It reminds me of my mom, and I can’t think of a more fitting recipe to share before Mother’s Day.
This sour cream coffee cake uses familiar, homey ingredients. Sour cream, butter, granulated sugar, and flour are ingredients you likely already have on hand, which means you can make this easy coffee cake recipe anytime. With the cinnamon-pecan topping, you can either add all of it to the bottom of the pan (making it the top of the coffee cake once you remove it from the bundt pan), or put half as the topping and half in the interior of the cake. For this method, you’ll put some of the crumble topping, then some of the batter, then the rest of the topping, then the rest of the batter! Either way is delicious.
Thank you mom for letting me share this recipe today! Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom out there.
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups sifted flour*
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a bundt pan, set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat again until fluffy. Add sour cream and vanilla extract and beat until just combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- To assemble the coffee cake, you have two options with the nut topping. You can add all of it to the bundt pan before adding the cake batter, or you can add half the topping, then half the batter, then the remaining topping and remaining batter. This method gives you some of the crunchy cinnamon nuts in the inside of the coffee cake. You choose what works for you! Both are delicious.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing.
- Enjoy!
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