Kid-Sister Coffee Cake

When I was growing up, one of our great aunts used to bake coffee cakes to give as gifts to friends and relatives. I have always loved the combination of cinnamon-sugar flavoring, but my youngest sister, Michelle, adored coffee cake even more than most! When she was in grade school, the gifted coffee cake was disappearing too fast for her, so she begged my mom to help her learn how to make her very own. She tried a few different recipes to get it just right - and we got to enjoy the fruits of her pint-sized labors. Now nearing the end of high school, Michelle's memory of the coffee cake baking days has faded - but to this day just mention this sweet treat, and I see visions of my kid sister standing on a chair, diligently attending to her batter.

To make delicious, moist Cinnamon Nut Sour Cream Coffee Cake, start by setting your oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, mix together your filling ingredients: brown sugar, cinnamon and - if you'd like - walnuts (we skip the nuts at our house). Set this aside.

Next combine the sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs in a large mixing bowl. I like to break my eggs into a smaller bowl first - just to make sure no shells sneak in, and to ensure I don't ruin the rest of my ingredients if one of the eggs is bad.

Cream together those ingredients at medium speed. Make sure they get well mixed, by scraping down any ingredients that fling onto the side of the bowl. I added the sour cream next and beat it in with the hand mixer so all of the creamy ingredients would be prepared.

Now add all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) into the creamy mixture. I started by folding it in with a spatula, so the hand mixer wouldn't send the powders flying with a "poof!" (been there, made that mistake before).

After folding it a little by hand, I switched to the hand mixer to thoroughly distribute the remaining ingredients throughout the batter. When you're done it should be nice and smooth.

This is the time to prepare your bundt pan. Simply grease it (I sprayed mine with non-stick cooking spray) and then sprinkle a little flour into the pan. Shake that flour around so it evenly coats the whole pan and you won't have to worry about your cake sticking when it's finished.

Spread one third of the batter into a layer on the bottom of your prepped pan.

Then sprinkle with half of your filling mixture.

Repeat with another layer of batter, a second layer of filling, and finally a third layer of batter. I still had a little filling mixture left, so I sprinkled that on top. I would actually do that again because I liked the extra sweetness on the crust.

Bake for 55-65 minutes. You'll know it's ready when the toothpick test comes out clean. Allow your cake to cool for at least 10 minutes.

When your cake has cooled, slide a plate over the top.

Flip the bundt pan over onto the plate, then remove the pan from the top of the cake. If your cake seems to be sticking, you may need to carefully run a knife along the edge of the cake to loosen the edges before flipping it over.

To give my coffee cake a more polished, ready-for-company look, I held the plate over the sink and sprinkled a little white sugar over the whole cake. Any bouncing sugar fell into the sink (no clean up!) and it gave the cake a pretty, sparkly effect. Finally, slice the cake with a sharp knife and serve with your favorite coffee drink!

Try this sweet Cinnamon Nut Sour Cream Coffee Cake, then please rate and review.

Kids of all ages love chocolate and peanut butter!  On Thursday I'm making a snack mix using this classic combination.

Amanda is paid to write for the Land O'Lakes Recipe Buzz™ Blog.