Sour Cream Coffee Cake, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel

Happy birthday to meeee! It’s not actually my birthday, it’s The Food Charlatan’s birthday! Eight years ago I published my first recipe here on this little blog. I called it “The Food Charlatan” because I didn’t know how to cook really at all.

Now here we are 8 years later and I’ve conned you all into thinking that I know what I’m doing. Mwahahaha! Don’t get me wrong, I am much more comfortable in the kitchen than I was 8 years ago, and I never publish a recipe on this blog that I don’t have complete confidence in. (You can trust today’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake, for example. It’s legiiiiit.)

But I still have a lot to learn! It’s so fun sharing my food journey with all of you guys. Seriously, I’m so glad you’re here! Blogging would be super boring without you!

To celebrate 8 years blogging, I thought I would share a random sample of emails/comments that I get from readers on a regular basis. These are the fun ones. Reader comments are in italics.

A Day in the Inbox of a Food Blogger

Dear Karen,

I’m sure your a good person, with a kind heart, are you aware that a charlatan is in essence a con man, a ripoff and other unfriendly things?

(You would not believe how many people try to inform me about my own blog name. I think it’s hilarious.)

Some people are so kind:

Do you have your own cookbook for sale?  I would certainly buy it.

(I don’t have a cookbook yet, but I hope I will someday! They are a ton of work and I don’t want to miss my kids growing up. Someday when they are older I’ll do it. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if I write a cookbook. Probably you will be sick of hearing about it by the time I’m through!

I tried to use your website for my cooking class, but it’s just so busy, with so many videos and ads loading constantly I just could not. Unfortunately this seems to be the constant theme with all cooking sites – websites in general – as ad revenue clearly becomes the most important consideration. Perhaps speak to your web developer about some optimization.

Ah, the frustration with ads. I get it, they are annoying. It makes me sad that some people think all I care about is the bottom line. One guy even told me once that he was sure I was only making a few cents on those ads, so I should take them off.

I make a full time income from this blog. It feeds my family. It’s also a butt-ton of work. I’m providing well-researched recipes to provide value to my readers. You don’t have to pay to access to these recipes I work so hard on (remember when you had to, like, PAY to buy cookbooks??), but you do have to put up with the ads so that I can keep the content coming!

More really nice people:

You sound like a lovely lady of faith and that is a big draw for me. I’m a grandma of deep faith and I love that young ladies are not ashamed to announce that they are as well.
      Happy blogging and I can’t wait to try your recipes!  I pray you have much success encouraging others to try new recipes! Personally, with your writing skills, I believe you will!

I get emails about my religion on a regular basis, and I love it! I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I believe that Jesus is my Savior and that we have a living prophet on the earth today. It’s awesome. If you have any questions about my religion, I’d love to talk to you about it. Shoot me an email! [email protected]

Funny comments on particular recipes:

Here’s one about my 3 Ingredient Roasted Potatoes with Crunchy Onions:

I’m having a hard time figuring out where the idea of crunchy onions came from, I didn’t even see onions in the recipe, the closest thing was onion soup, and in my 46 years of being a certified gourmet chef, I’ve never made crisp onion soup, for one thing if it’s crunchy it’s no longer soup, soup doesn’t crunch? Could you explain this to me. Thank you.

“Soup doesn’t crunch.” Put that on my tombstone.

These Homemade Pretzel Hot Dogs  from The Food Charlatan take me back to my mall-rat days, when I’d blow my allowance on the sales racks at Contempo Casuals and 5-7-9. (Coincidentally, treats like these are also detrimental to me returning to the 5, 7, OR 9.)

About these Gruyere-Crisped Potatoes Au Gratin: I’m sorry to say that these ended up on the kitchen floor. The casserole dish it was in broke… I cut my finger. It was quite the commotion. Everyone was worried about me… I was more upset about not even tasting the potatoes!!

About this Cheesy Overnight Bacon and Egg Breakfast Casserole): I picked your recipe because your name made me laugh!

(I love you! I love you!)

A comment in response to Soft and Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls, where I announced that I was pregnant and explained that morning sickness kept me from posting new recipes for several months. (Apparently some people thought they were having computer issues):

I’m so happy for you and your family Karen!  And most thankful you are no longer having the horrors of morning..noon…and night sickness!  I, too, was one of those ignorant folk that could not figure out why I was no longer getting your posts…giving hubby a bad rap (thought he deleted some of my “good stuff”) I will apologize to him when I finish here.)

About my Brown Sugar Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting:

Dear Karen,
I still love you, but if I were to eat that cake with all those carbs, I might die in a week.

I feel you. Sometimes death by cake is worth it though.

I can’t find it now, but probably my favorite email of all time though was when someone told me that my blog posts were too long. I needed to shorten them up and stop telling dumb stories about my kids because there’s not enough space “on the cloud” for all this content. I swear. I died laughing!

For every annoyed person who emails to inform me that they don’t care about my stories/my kids/”just give me the *%@* recipes already,” I get three emails like this:

I have been receiving your emails/blog for a while now and I just wanted to contact you and tell you how much I enjoy it!  I love your recipes (I’ve made so, so many and always pass them on to friends), but I also love reading about you and your family!  Your blog makes me laugh and I find it so relatable!  I am also a stay at home Mom, although my kids are older than yours  now.  Your stories remind me of when my kids were younger, and always have me in stitches.  As soon as I see an email from you, I get so excited to read what’s been going on in your life – you’ve always got the best stories!  Your sense of humour is amazing and I think that’s what keeps Moms going – a great sense of humour!

More cake for breakfast recipes you are going to love!

Maple Butter Twist Coffee Cake << this is from my BFF’s mom, Anne. An amazing baker! This cake is so good.

The FLUFFIEST Homemade Cinnamon Rolls of Your Life << For real. We just made these again for general conference weekend. So good!

Soft and Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls << make these for Christmas breakfast. Everyone will love you!

Easy Pumpkin Pie Cake << this is a doctored cake mix but with Pumpkin in the middle. It’s SO good!

Cake Mix Coffee Cake << from my famous Aunt Shirley! She is a wonderful baker! We had this all the time growing up.

Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole << this is another great special breakfast that my family loves!

Overnight Blueberry French Toast Casserole << Blueberries forever!!

Apple Crisp, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel << for all you streusel fanatics out there like me

Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake from Shugary Sweets

Cinnamon Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake from Oh Sweet Basil

Cinnamon Cake Roll from Wine and Glue

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Sour Cream Coffee Cake, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel

Serves 12-16     adjust servings

This is my FAVORITE recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake! My main complaint with Coffee Cake is that there is usually too much cake, not enough streusel. This recipe gives you the max amount of streusel without ruining the light fluffiness of the cake! A vanilla drizzle finishes it off for the perfect cake-for-breakfast situation.

Ingredients

For the streusel

• 3 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

For the cake

• 2 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, softened but still cool
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the icing

• 1/4 cup (half stick) butter, very soft
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup milk, more to taste
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch cake pan* with nonstick spray or rub with butter.  
2. Make the streusel: In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons cinnamon. 
3. Melt 1 cup butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Pour into the larger bowl and stir the butter into the flour. You should end up with a bowl of what looks like wet sand, with lots of big chunks. Don't try to smooth it out. See photo. 
4. For the cake: In a large bowl or stand mixer, whisk together 2 and 1/4 cups flour, 1 and 1/4 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.
5. Chop 3/4 cup softened butter into chunks. You want the butter to sit out of the fridge for several minutes to that it's not rock-hard, but don't let it soften so much that it's completely creamy. 
6. Add the chopped butter and 1/2 cup sour cream to the flour mixture. Use the paddle attachment (or electic beaters) to blend the butter in. Eventually the butter will moisten the flour and it will all come together in a ball. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary. Don't over mix, just beat until all the butter is incorporated.
7. In another large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Beat well until the eggs are well blended.
8. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture in 3 additions, beating for about 20 seconds after each one. Once all the egg mixture is added, beat for another 1 minute until the batter is light and fluffy.
9. Spread 2 cups of batter into the bottom of your prepared cake pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of streusel evenly over the top, breaking up any too-large pieces with your hands.
10. Spread another 2 cups batter on top and spread it around as best you can. 
11. Add another 1 cup streusel on top.
12. Add the rest of the batter and spread evenly.
13. Evenly spread another 2 cups of streusel on top of the cake. Do NOT add all the remaining streusel! There will be some left over. Spread the remaining streusel on a baking sheet to dry out a little bit.
14. Bake the cake at 350 for 25 minutes. 
15. Do this next part fast. Remove the cake from the oven and shut the oven door. Use your hands to sprinkle all the remaining streusel on top of the cake, focusing on any areas where the cake batter has puffed up from the center. Move quickly! Get the cake back in the oven as soon as you can, and keep the oven door shut as much as possible. 
16. Bake for another 20-25 minutes.* The total bake time for the cake should be about 45-50 minutes, depending on your oven and whether you use a glass or metal pan. Test the cake with a toothpick. It is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter on it. The cake should not wobble around at all when you shake the pan. 
17. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for at least 15-20 minutes for cutting into it.
18. Make the icing: In a medium bowl, beat 1/4 cup butter until smooth. (I actually did it by hand with a whisk. You can do this if your butter is ultra soft.)
19. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup milk, and 2 cups powdered sugar. Beat with a mixer or by hand until very smooth. 
20. Drizzle the icing over the cake. You can either drizzle it over the whole cake or drizzle each individual serving. I like to drizzle about half the icing over the whole cake, and then save the rest of drizzling over each serving.
21. The cake is best served warm! Zap individual servings in the microwave for 10-20 seconds if you are serving after the cake has cooled. 
22. This cake will keep well covered on the counter for 2-3 days. After that, put it in the fridge. 

by The Food Charlatan

Recipe Notes

*I baked my coffee cake in a glass pan. If you use a metal pan, the bake time WILL be shorter. Start testing with a toothpick a few minutes earlier than suggested. 

All images and text © The Food Charlatan

If you make this recipe, share it on Instagram using the hashtag #TheFoodCharlatan so I can see it!