Coffee and cake

The weather has been stormy here lately, making one's heart wish for a good cup of coffee and, of course, the coffee cake. We had some good coffee, from Intelligentsia roasters in Chicago, compliments of my good friend Dina, who just visited us. I absolutely love their beans for drip coffee. The one we were having is called Zirikana, from Rwanda - smooth, very mild acidity, goes great with half and half in the morning, and of course, goes great with cake.

I've been promising my husband to make his favorite coffee cake again, but since i get bored using the same recipes, i decided to experiment a bit. I tried a buttermilk coffee cake before and that was very tasty, but for some reason i decided that sour cream would make it even more tasty. (We're ignoring the calories at this point.) I found a recipe online for blueberry sour cream coffee cake and decided to modify it a bit. I got "Canadian" sour cream, which is just thicker than the regular American sour cream. And, apparently, blueberries are not in season now, because the only store that had them was selling them for a crazy price. But i was set on blueberries, blackberries wouldn't do.

The result was very moist and lightly crumbly cake with perfect little blueberry dots. The consistency was more like a cross between the cheesecake and a regular pound cake. Delicious! But i think i will make it with buttermilk next time.


Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
(borrowed and modified from Allrecipes)

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 5/8 cups white unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries (more might be better)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9 inch spring form pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in blueberries.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the batter in the pan. Spoon remaining batter over the top, and then sprinkle the remaining pecan mixture over. Use a knife or thin spatula to swirl the sugar layer into the cake.

Bake for 70-80 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack. Remove from the pan and enjoy.