May 2019 Recipe of the Month: Lazy Morning Coffee Cake

My one-year wedding anniversary is this weekend, so in honor of loooove, I’m sharing my favorite recipe from my upcoming novel, The Ingredients of Us! (Promised wedding photos are below).   

This recipe is super easy and perfect for lazy mornings with your love. In the book, my main character Elle makes it for her husband the first time they say, "I love you" to each other.  
 
BAKER BEWARE: This coffee cake batter is the best you'll ever eat. Try at your own risk.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup salted butter

  • 2 cup granulated sugar

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 tablespoons vanilla

  • 2 cup sour cream

  • 2 cup flour (for gluten-free, Namaste gluten free flour blend can be substituted cup for cup, along with an added teaspoon of baking powder)

  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon salt

Fruit variations: Approximately 1½ cup of any fruit variation you can think of! Examples below. Believe it or not, frozen fruit works better.

  • 1½ cup of mixed frozen blueberries and peaches

  • 1½ cup of frozen blueberries with 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

  • 1½ cup of chopped frozen apples, tossed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 teaspoons brown sugar

  • 1½ cup of your favorite pie filling—seriously!

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Steps: 

  1. In the mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until just incorporated. Don’t bother scraping down the sides of the bowl—the cakes turn out better if the batter is a little lumpy.

  2. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium to high speed until just incorporated. Smell the batter. It’s heavenly.

  3. Add the sour cream and mix on medium speed until just incorporated.

  4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix in on low speed until lumps form, then increase the speed to medium and mix until only a few lumps remain.

  5. Pour the batter into a 12” cake pan, or two smaller pans. You should have an inch or inch and a half of free space from the top of the pan—this recipe rises a lot (I like to bake it with a cookie sheet underneath, in case it overflows a little). A few clumps of butter and sugar should reside in the bottom of the bowl—scrape those into the baking pan, too, ensuring everything in your mixing bowl is transferred to the pan.

  6. DEFINITELY lick the spoon, bowl, mixer, the counter, anything that has batter on it. This batter is SO GOOD. (But obviously eat at your own risk, because raw eggs and stuff).

  7. Top with your chosen fruit. Spread a single layer of the fruit in the middle of the cake, leaving an inch around the edges. Don’t bother arranging it in a special pattern—it sinks into the batter as it cooks and the pattern won’t show up once it’s baked.

  8. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 50 to 90 minutes (depends on the oven). It should be brown and crackly but not burnt on top, with the fruit sinking into the cake in the middle. A toothpick will come out clean when it’s done; use a toothpick in multiple places just to be sure it’s done. Do not over-bake, otherwise the coffee cake will sink as it cools.

  9. This coffee cake is recommended with—surprise!—coffee. It’s also good heated up with ice cream. Or in the middle of the day when you need something sweet in between running errands, cleaning, working, etc.

  10. The point is, it’s good anytime. I recommend doubling the recipe if you intend to share it with another person. That’s what my husband and I do.