Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Coarse Brown-Sugar Streusel

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A tall, bakery-case coffee cake built on a thick sour cream batter that stays tender for days, with a cinnamon-sugar ribbon running through the middle and a deliberately chunky brown-sugar streusel that bakes up crunchy instead of sandy. Squeezing the streusel into clumps and chilling it is the whole trick — you get craggy, cookie-like pieces on top rather than a fine dusting that melts into the cake.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch kosher salt

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup full-fat sour cream, room temperature

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the lower third. Butter a 9-inch square metal baking pan and line it with a parchment sling that overhangs two sides.
2. Make the streusel first so it can chill: in a medium bowl whisk together 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp salt. Pour in the 6 tablespoons melted butter and stir with a fork just until the mixture looks like damp sand, then stop mixing.
3. Squeeze handfuls of the mixture into tight clumps, then break them apart into pieces ranging from pea-sized to almond-sized. Stir in the nuts if using. Refrigerate the streusel while you make the batter — cold, chunky streusel is what keeps it crunchy instead of dissolving into the cake.
4. Stir the swirl ingredients together in a small bowl: 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
5. In another bowl, whisk 1 3/4 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and 3/4 tsp salt.
6. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and 1 cup granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high for 3 full minutes, until pale and fluffy. Scrape the bowl, then beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
7. Add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the sour cream in two, mixing on low and scraping the bowl between additions. Stop as soon as the last streaks disappear — the batter will be thick, almost like frosting. Overmixing makes it tough.
8. Spread a little more than half the batter into the pan in an even layer. Sprinkle the cinnamon swirl mixture evenly over it, all the way to the edges. Dollop the remaining batter on top and spread gently with an offset spatula, then drag a butter knife through the cake in a few S-curves to marble it slightly.
9. Scatter the chilled streusel clumps evenly over the top, breaking up any pieces larger than a walnut. Press very lightly so they adhere but stay proud of the surface.
10. Bake 50–58 minutes, until the streusel is deep golden, the cake springs back at the center, and a toothpick inserted into the cake (not the swirl) comes out with a few moist crumbs. Tent loosely with foil at 40 minutes if the top is browning fast.
11. Cool in the pan on a rack for at least 45 minutes. Lift out using the parchment sling and cool at least another 15 minutes before cutting — the swirl needs to set or it will smear.
12. If glazing, whisk the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until pourable and drizzle over the cooled cake in thin lines. Cut into 12 squares with a serrated knife, wiping the blade between cuts.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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