Apple sour cream coffee cake

A delicious, not-too-sweet treat!

I love coffee cake (even though I was way too many years old before I learned it doesn’t actually have coffee in it – it’s meant to be enjoyed WITH coffee). This creation was inspired by a recent trip to a local orchard to pick apples. It would be equally tasty made with pears. I have served this as a dessert and enjoyed it at breakfast time with a morning cup of tea and it was equally enjoyable at both times of the day. If you enjoy this recipe, you might also like my blueberry coffee cake or my raspberry cream cheese streusel coffee cake.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1/2 cup (115 g) room temperature butter
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (240 g) sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1 3/4 cup (215 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (2.4 g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 g) ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) peeled and finely diced apples (about 2 medium)

Topping:

• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons (6 g) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon (.7 g) ground ginger
• 1/2 cup (75 g) finely chopped toasted walnuts or pecans

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the sides of a 9-inch (22.5 cm) round springform pan and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl (use a stand mixer if you have one), cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each one.
• Combine baking soda and baking powder plus salt with flour until evenly incorporated.
• Add half the sour cream to the batter, followed by half the dry ingredients. Mix well after each addition then scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed and repeat with remaining sour cream and flour mixture. Fold in prepared apples and stir to distribute evenly.
• Prepare topping by mixing sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together in a small bowl.
• Spread half of the batter into prepared cake pan. Sprinkle with half of sugar mixture and half of chopped nuts; use the tip of a knife to swirl the topping into the batter. Top with remaining batter, then sprinkle with remaining sugar and nuts and swirl this layer of topping gently with a knife.
• Bake for about 45 – 50 minutes or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Place pan on a wire rack to cool. Run a knife around the edge to release, then remove from pan and cool completely. Cake will keep, covered in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

Serves 8 – 10.