I recently pulled Grandma’s recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake from my recipe file, and remembered what my daughter had said to me many years ago just as I was pulling the cake out of the oven:
“Why do they call it coffee cake?” asked 5-year-old Nicole. My reply was simply, “Because it is cake that is eaten with coffee.”
Ahh, the coffee cake. For me, it is a deliciously moist and nut- and cinnamon-filled cake topped with sweetness. But coffee cake comes in all shapes and sizes. In fact, there is no official coffee cake recipe. They can be a pound cake, sponge or yeast. They can be filled with fruit, spices and nuts. And yes, every ethnic tradition has its own version.
Whether it’s the Butterkuchen, a yeasted German-style coffee cake with cinnamon sugar topping, the Swedish Flop Coffee Cake covered with a crunchy streusel that is split and filled with butter cream, or the delicious sweet Danish Pastry that is a specialty of Scandinavian countries, it is not only the cake itself, but the ceremony that accompanies enjoying it that is so compelling to so many of us.
There is something truly enjoyable about the simplicity of stopping the day, sitting down together with friends or family, and enjoying a cup of coffee accompanied by a cake. The Germans have even given it a name – kaffeeklatsch: the tradition of enjoying Kaffee – coffee – and Klatsch – gossip
Back to that coffee cake discussion I had with my children 14 years ago:
After Nicole thought about my answer for a few seconds, it was clear that she was going to make sure she had some of that cake, even if she didn’t drink coffee.
“I’m calling it water cake,” she declared, as she sat with a glass of water in front of her.
Then her sister got into the coffeecake renaming game. “I’m eating milk cake,” said Addie.
“Looks like Daddy is having wine cake,” added Grayson.
Our water-milk-wine-coffee cake session way back then, brought us gossip about the Halloween poem Addison and Keely learned at preschool, Nicole’s art project at school and Grayson’s adventures searching for arachnids during Science class.
A dozen years later, we are all still enjoying our coffee cake – with our favorite drink of the moment alongside – and chatting about each other’s day. We got a run-down of Nicole’s list of things to do before heading back to UCLA, Addie and Keely gave us updates on their Eagle Scout projects and college applications, and Grayson, already back in Miami, had to sit this kaffeeklatsch out.
Last evening it was water cake for me; this morning, as I write this, it is undoubtedly coffee.
Enjoy a bit of coffee cake, with your friends and your family. You never know what you may find out!
Grandma’s Special Coffee Cake
Filling
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp cocoa
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Cake
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 ¼ cups sour cream
Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. grease 9” tube pan.
2. Make Filling: mix sugar, cinnamon, cocoa and walnuts in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter, 1 cup of sugar, add eggs.
4. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda and baking powder.
5. Blend in flour mixture alternating with sour cream.
6. Spoon half of batter into pan, sprinkle ½ filling over it, and spread remaining batter over it. Sprinkle top with remaining batter.
7. Bake 1 hour. Cool about 10 minutes in pan.
