Sometimes acquaintances label my food choices "interesting." In Minnesota, this can be a passive-aggressive putdown, a way of saying "You eat weird stuff that I wouldn't touch with a proverbial ten-foot pole," but I choose to view it as a compliment. Life is short, so why order plain chocolate ice cream when you can opt for chocolate with sea salt and fudge, or settle for a cheese pizza over a pie topped with arugula and truffle oil? If I never ventured beyond the familiar, I would be living a very different sort of life, one without a food blog or Ethiopian cuisine, a life that would lack many of very things that have come to define me.
However, I will admit there are drawbacks to my culinary approach: the occasional flavor combinations that don't quite work and my tendency to overlook truly delicious, simple foods in favor of their fussy esoteric counterparts. Take, for instance, coffee cake. The humble combination of white cake and cinnamon sugar is not the kind of thing I seek out--I'm too busy pursuing French pastries or gourmet doughnuts. But whenever I happen across coffee cake, usually in a church basement, the first bite makes me pause with appreciation. Sometimes, basic foods are what people eat so often because they're delicious. Sometimes you don't need a lemon and vanilla bean cupcake with cardamom-infused frosting; what you need is a down-to-earth coffee cake, moist and laden with cinnamon.
This is a classic coffee cake, perfect for a mid-morning coffee break or brunch. The very thick cake batter is a bit difficult to work with, particularly when you're spreading the second layer of batter while trying not to disturb the cinnamon sugar topping underneath. But the resulting cake is worth it, with a fluffy moistness and a lovely ribbon of cinnamon sugar running through the middle.
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven
Ingredients:
Cake
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces (by weight) reduced fat sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Topping
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9x13 pan.
Using a hand mixer, cream butter and 1 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until a stiff batter forms.
Mix 1/4 granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl until well combined.
Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.
Evenly sprinkle with half of the prepared sugar topping. Repeat with remaining batter and sugar topping, spreading the second layer of batter very carefully to ensure the first layer of topping is not disturbed.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
