Week 7 of 52: Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Week 7 of 52: Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Today is National Almond Day. There are so many desserts that could be made to celebrate this day. I wanted to make the Indian dessert called Burfi, but I didn't have any silver to top it with...so that will have to come later this year. I also thought about almond cookies (to satisfy my Chinese dessert craving), or almond biscotti (which I will be making sometime this year, as it is a dessert I have never attempted), or almond joy brownies (I think about these often!!). But as I searched the web for ideas, I came across a recipe for sour cream coffee cake.

I remember having bundt-style streusel cakes when I was a kid. My grandmother on my dad's side was born in Czechoslovakia and even though much of what was cooking and baking in her kitchen was authentic eastern European food, I really don't know where her recipe for this type of cake came from. I never saw a recipe and have no idea if it had sour cream or not. But it was always super moist and had lots of gooey-ness inside.   My mother made these too, but as I mentioned in an earlier post...I can never be certain how much of my Mom's baking is from scratch and how much is from a box.

So to honor the memory of Grandma Harris' gooey bundt cakes, I began my search for all things almond, sugar, and cinnamon.

Many of the recipes I found were very similar with their ratios of ingredients. The fillings were either with flour/butter or without. I only found one relatively almond infused recipe, but it was only focused on the filling. So I decided to tweak things a little and incorporate some ground almonds into the cake batter to give an extra punch of almond. And because I don't own a bundt pan, I decided to use two round pans and then turn it into a layer coffee cake because the more gooey layers the better!

Enjoy this celebration of almonds and Grandma Harris.

Almond Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients
12 T butter, unsalted, room temperature
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
3 eggs, large
1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
2 c flour
1/2 c ground almonds (I use a food processor and pulse just until they look like tiny hits, not until they are powder)
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
12 oz sour cream
2T pure almond extract + 2T water, mixed in a separate bowl

Filling
1 1/2 t cinnamon
3/4 c brown sugar, light or dark, just your preference
1 c almonds (I use slivered and then coarsely chop)
1/4 t salt
1/2 c flour
3 T butter, cold, and cut into small pieces
Mix all ingredients except butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the butter pieces and then mix together by hand, squeezing the butter pieces into the mix until it is crumbly. Set aside to use in the panning. 

Drizzle
1 1/4 c confectioners' sugar
3 T milk (I use light vanilla soy milk)
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
Hand mix ingredients in a bowl. It should be runny, but not watery. Something thinner than the caramel dip for apples, but thicker than the chocolate in a molten cake. Set aside to use after cake is assembled after baking.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and lightly flour two round cake pans.
2. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, powder, and salt.
4. Alternating flour mix and sour cream, add to the butter mix until incorporated.

PANNING
Put 1/4 of the batter into each prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/4 of the filling over the batter. Put remaining 1/4 of batter into each pan - you will need to dollop this using a spoon because the batter in thick and sticky and should be. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 of filling on top. Pour 1/2 of almond extract/water mix over the top of each cake.


BAKING
Bake for 30-35' until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out.

ASSEMBLING
Place one cake on top of the other before completely cool. Add drizzle and serve.