Summer Dessert : Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Remember your favorite summertime dessert growing up?  Maybe it was fresh apple pie, mouthwatering strawberry shortcake, or German chocolate layer cake.  My favorite dessert was my grandmother's pound cake.  As a home baker, she made it frequently; probably because flour, butter, eggs and sugar -- the essential ingredients for making pound cake -- were always on hand in her kitchen.  It required a limited amount of time, did not need to be frosted, and was perfect for feeding a large family.  Definitely not a showy cake!  And when it was baking, the aroma would drift through the kitchen and outside to the porch where we often played enticing us back to her kitchen to wait for the cake to finish baking and cool so we could have a slice.

Sour cream coffee cake is another favorite summer dessert.  This cake is really just a twist on the basic ingredients of pound cake.  The addition of sour cream enriches and moistens the batter, and the layers of cinnamon, brown sugar and nuts make it simply addictive.  Cook it as a loaf or dress it up in a Bundt pan.  It's the perfect cake to serve with coffee or for Sunday brunch.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Batter:

• 2 Cups Flour (all-purpose)
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 1/4 Sticks Butter (unsalted)
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Egg Yolks
• 8 ounce container Sour Cream

Filling/Topping:

• 1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
• 2-3 Tsps Cinnamon
• 1 Cup lightly toasted, chopped Nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine filling and set aside.  For the batter, combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and add softened butter.  Mix with your electric mixer until the mixture is smooth and well combined, about 1-2 minutes.  Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, and sour cream.  Add about 1/2 of the egg mixture to the batter, beating for about 1 minute.  Add the remaining half of the egg mixture to the batter and beat for about 2 minutes.  Scrape the mixing bowl and paddle and finish incorporating by hand.  Add half of the batter to a loaf or Bundt pan (buttered).  Top with half of the cinnamon-sugar-nut mixture.  Add the remaining batter and smooth with a spatula.  Top with remainining cinnamon-sugar-nut mixture.  Bake for about an hour, or until the cake is risen and firm.  Cool, remove from pan, serve and enjoy!