Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My Mom was a very good cook. Her Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Stuffed Peppers, Fondue, and Turkey dinners were divine.  But a baker, she was not. We won't talk about her Peanut Butter Fudge that never set and every time you cut a square, would smooth back over as if you'd never taken any. Or the No-Bake Cookies she made on the portable dishwasher--which she then ran--literally baking the cookies to the top of it.

But she had one baked good that was sent from heaven...her German (or as we called it) Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  The recipe was originally my Aunt Patty's, but my mother owned it!  As I hold her vanilla-stained, sugar-encrusted recipe card, I can see her making this, and smell it in the oven. I miss her so much my heart aches.

So I post this today for you Jeffrey...for she loved your visit, and the baklava and marzipan you brought from NY, and the buttermilk fried chicken you made during your stay. Happy Birthday, my basement.

German Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 3/4 cups Cooking Oil
• 1.5 cups Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 3 cups Flour
• 1.5 tsp Baking Soda
• 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1.5 tsp Vanilla
• 1 pt (16 oz) Sour Cream

Brown Sugar Mixture

• 3/4 cups Brown Sugar
• 1.5 tsp Cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 cups crushed Walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar, eggs. 
3. In a second bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Mix dry ingredients alternately with sour cream into the oil mixture.
5. Add vanilla and mix all well.
6. Pour half of batter into a bundt pan (prepared pan I assume, although recipe doesn't say).
7. Sprinkle half of Brown Sugar Mixture in a circle around center of cake batter.
8. Add rest of batter to bundt pan.
9. Sprinkle remaining Brown Sugar Mixture on top.
10. Bake for 1 hour.

Dog Team Sticky Buns

As I don't know how long the Dog Team restaurant's website will stay up--and this is the top search that brings folks to my other site--I thought I would post this cherished recipe here. You can buy "DT Sticky Buns" (made by a former employee) at various markets in Vermont.

Dog Team Sticky Buns

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 lb potatoes, peeled and cube
• 1⁄4 lb (1 stick) margarine, at room temp
• 2 3⁄4 cups sugar
• 1 1⁄2 tsp salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 7 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 1⁄2 cups chopped walnuts
• 1⁄2 lb (2 sticks) lightly salted butter, melted
• 1⁄4 cup ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Boil potatoes in salted water to cover until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Drain the potatoes, reserving 1 ½ cups of the cooking liquid, and mash.
3. Measure 1 Cup of the mashed potatoes and reserve the rest for another use.
4. Stir together the mashed potatoes, margarine, ½ cup of the sugar and salt.
5. Cool to lukewarm and add yeast, eggs and the reserved 1 ½ cups cooking liquid and mix well.
6. Add flour and stir. Knead on a lightly floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic.
7. Set in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.
8. Punch down and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
9. Butter three 9-inch round or square baking dishes.
10. Distribute brown sugar evenly among the pans.
11. Sprinkle with enough water to make the sugar very wet.
12. Distribute walnuts evenly over the brown sugar.
13. Roll out the dough into a ½-inch-thick rectangle on a well-floured surface.
14. Brush with melted butter.
15. Stir together the remaining 2 ¼ cups sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the buttered dough.
16. Roll up the dough as you would a jelly roll. Cut into ½-inch-thick slices.
17. Arrange the slices cut-side up in the prepared pans so that they are almost touching.
18. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
19. One hour later, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
20. Bake the sticky buns until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.
21. Immediately invert the buns onto a plate.

Makes 6-8 sticky buns per pan. (18-24 total)

cc2.0 image courtesy of TheWanderingEater

Beta blog

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