Grandma's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This past weekend, I baked my cakes and pies to freeze for Thanksgiving.
I find that if I get that task out of the way, I feel much better & relaxed.
Most cakes and pies (except an apple pie) with butter content freeze very well if they are wrapped tightly in plastic wrap then aluminum foil.

I always make one cake and one pie.
I usually make my grandmother's sour cream coffee cake or an apple cake of some kind.

When I looked at Debra at Smitten Kitchen's "cubes of colossal cheer" Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake recipe, it was almost exactly like my grandmother's cake, except Debra bakes her cake in a glass 13 x 9 pan and adds an extra cup of sour cream.

I am not a fan of baking in a Pyrex glass pan, only because of presentation.
Cakes look nicer on a cake pedestal and sliced. Just my opinion.

So, here is the very best sour cream coffee cake with walnuts and chocolate chunks. You can really make any topping you like, as long as it has light brown or dark brown sugar, a nut and cinnamon. I love the addition of chocolate chips too.

This cake freezes beautifully.

Grandma's Sour Cream Coffee Cake:

Topping:

1/2 cup of brown or light brown sugar (doesn't really matter)
1/2 cup of chopped walnut or pecans
1/2 bag of chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon



Cake Batter:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix your ingredients for the topping and middle of the cake in a small bowl.
Now mix your flour, baking powder and soda w/ salt in another bowl.

In a third bowl, mix your butter w/ sugar, incorporating your eggs with the sour cream and vanilla.
Slowly add your flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture.

Butter and flour a tube pan (this cake will stick if you don't grease your pan properly).
Pour half your batter in the pan and sprinkle half your brown sugar nut topping on that.



Now pour the rest of the batter on top and then top with the rest of the sugar topping. You may have some topping leftover, which I keep in a Ziploc bag.

Bake for about an hour at 350. Start testing the cake for doneness (is "doneness" a word?) at 50 minutes.
Wait until cool enough to remove from pan.



This is so good for breakfast (and lunch and dinner!).
Enjoy!