Whenever I have too much of a certain ingredient, I get nervous 😬. This is because I strongly dislike throwing food away. I find myself racing 🏁 against time to use up whatever it is before it exceeds its useful life or outright spoils. This time it was too much sour cream. You know when you send your husband to the store with a small list of things and he comes back with all the stuff, but there’s always something interesting, too. After one such trip, we ended up with the most gigantic tub of sour cream I’d ever seen and I was immediately concerned, knowing we’d never finish it in time. I knew I had to bake it into something. That’s how the legendary bakery-style Cinnamon Coffee Cake came to be.
Inspired by the challenge ingredient and my husband’s affinity for coffee cake, especially Trader Joe’s cinnamon coffee cake, I embarked on a quest to best it and impress him. And I must humbly admit, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. This is hands-down the best coffee cake you will ever eat. The sour cream makes the cake itself the definition of moist and tender without being wet or stodgy. The crumb is delicate and melts in your mouth with every bite. A generous swirl of cinnamon brown sugar filling caramelizes in the oven, creating a sometimes crusty, sometimes gooey candy-like layer in the middle of that pillowy cake. And that crumb topping is enough to bring tears to your eyes 🥹. It’s perfectly textured, flavored, sugared, giving each mouthful of cake a delightful balance of feel and taste. You can bake this in a bundt, a round cake pan, a shoe👟–it’ll be perfect any way.
You may be taken aback by how tall it bakes, but it’s a marvel you’ll stand in awe of. While you stand agape, shovel in a big bite and your wonder will only mount. How can it be real? And this came out of your own oven and not a bakery? Crumbly, buttery, spicy and sweet– this cake is an absolute dream. It’s safe to say, I’m glad when my husband challenges me with his surprising grocery store exploits if they lead to more delicious bakes like this.
