Sour Cream Coffee Cake – a classic

So I am great at planning wonderful holiday meals. I can think of special dinners in a jiffy.  For example, Christmas dinner at our house was a fantastic homemade Beef Burgundy served over buttered noodles, roasted brussel sprouts, roasted tomatoes (the fancy kind with the vine still attached), green beans and the most decadent Triple Layer Mocha Cake on earth (one of my best recipes).  I set the table, I pull out the crystal and china, I decorate. I am a woman on a mission: the task of feeding hungry people the meal of a lifetime. I am woman – hear me roar! 

It’s the other meals that stump me. Like breakfast. A house full of people – 9 big eaters. What to serve? Why’s it so difficult to come up with a single idea???? Bagels? Cereal? Scrambled eggs? Pop Tarts?? I go completely blank.

First of all, everyone is waking up at different times…. You have the standard ‘early riser’ like me…. Sitting here in front of the computer, drinking my weight in coffee, watching the sun rise and waiting for the folks scattered around in the house to arise.

You have the ‘I’m awake but not coming out of my room yet’ people. What are they doing in there? Reading? Thinking? Waiting for the smell of bacon to entice them out? It’s not going to happen I tell you.

Then you have the classic ‘Sleepy Teenage Boy’…. Heaven only knows when I will see them. Ten o’clock? Eleven? Noon? One? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes.

Lastly, you have the ‘Good morning Mom! I am having breakfast at ____’s house. See you in a few hours’ person.

So I return to my original question: What to make for breakfast? The answer: Coffee Cakes. Today I offer a simple recipe, but a great one. And one that everyone in the house can enjoy according to their own personal morning schedule. Enjoy!

1/2 C butter, softened

¾ C sugar

1 t vanilla

3 eggs

2 C flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 C sour cream

6 T butter, softened

1 C brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

1 C chopped nuts

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the vanilla and the eggs – one at a time. Mix the flour, soda and powder together and set aside. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternating it with the sour cream. Don’t over mix the batter.

Prepare a 10 inch bundt  pan. Spoon a third of the batter in the pan and spread it out with a knife.

To make the streusel, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the cinnamon and nuts. Sprinkle this over the batter and then spoon the remaining batter over the streusel. I use a knife to smooth it all together.

Bake for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.