Sour Cream Coffee Cake, Two Versions (Light or Not!)

Happy FREEZING Sunday morning from Middle Grove, NY. After days of sub-zero temperatures, we're hovering around 10 degrees F as morning greets us today, but it is supposed to warm to a balmy 30 before the next storm hits us this afternoon with freezing rain and later, more snow. This is January in the great Northeast!!!

On my Facebook page yesterday, I posted a photo of a sour cream coffee cake I made for a wedding brunch today, for a good friend's lovely daughter and son-in-law. That photo (where the recipe was quadrupled for a crowd!) elicited a lot of interest, so today I am posting the recipe (NOT quadrupled!). Originally, this recipe came from Cooking Light Magazine, though for years I have unlightened (sp?) it by using whole eggs and full-fat sour cream because I make it for a hotel and I believe hotel guests like a bit of indulgence! However, the original, lighter version is really good, so I am bringing you the recipe for the full-fat version but with light ingredients in parentheses. Note that the original, linked below under the title of the recipe, includes chopped walnuts which I have not included (allergy concerns for hotel guests). You can bake this light or not, include walnuts or not. I've even stuffed it with cheesecake and blueberries! Go ahead… Make it your way!

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine
Single recipe - 8x8 square pan, sprayed with vegetable spray and lined with parchment if you have it
Double recipe - 13x9 pan, also sprayed and lined (or can be baked in a larger bundt pan sprayed with vegetable spray)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Ingredients for single recipe:

1/4 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature ( or 2 egg whites)
1 cup sour cream (or one cup low-fat sour cream)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup light brown sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze - 1 cup confectioners sugar/water

Directions:

In large mixer bowl, beat butter with granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well incorporated. Add sour ream and vanilla extract, mix well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well on low speed until completely incorporated.

Put half of the batter into prepared pan, spreading to completely cover bottom. Sprinkle with half of brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Top with the rest of the batter and using a butter knife, swirl batter as if you were making a marble cake. Top with remaining brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Bake until cake tests done, when tester or toothpick comes out clean and top bounces back when lightly pressed. It is very important that you know your oven and test accordingly:
8x8 pan - test at 25 minutes, may take 30-35 minutes depending on your oven
13x9 pan - test at 30 minutes, may take 30-40 minutes depending on your oven

Glaze:

Mix confectioners sugar with a tiny bit of water at a time, in a small bowl with a fork, until it's like a thick white glue. Add more water, a drop at a time, until it looks like Elmer's glue! Drizzle over coffee cake with a fork.

Healthy Blueberry Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

The coffee cake I've made for years was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe, but because I wanted it to be as rich and luscious as possible, low-fat ingredients were replaced with their full-fat counterparts -- yes, counter-intuitive -- but man-o-man was it a good coffee cake! So, going back to the original recipe, I've decided to make it even healthier by replacing butter with canola oil, half the all-purpose flour with whole white, and incorporating nutrient- and fiber-rich blueberries with brown sugar and cinnamon to create a pretty swirl in the middle of each slice.  This adaptation is a doubled recipe. If you want to make a smaller coffee cake (8x8 pan or a bread-loaf pan - adjust baking time), halve the ingredients and proceed as directed.

Interior View ~ just look at that! (click for close-up!)

I'm not able to indulge in coffee cake or any cake for that matter, but I'm a baker and I have to bake!  So I am happy to offer it to my co-workers. For those who do enjoy this coffee cake, they can know that it packs a greater nutritional punch than the original with healthy oil, less sugar, more fiber, low-fat sour cream, and antioxidants. It has all that. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of flavor!

HEALTHY BLUEBERRY CINNAMON SWIRL COFFEE CAKE
Oven - 375 degrees Farenheit
tube coffee cake pan, or angel food cake pan, sprayed with cooking spray

Coffee Cake Ingredients:
1/2 cup canola oil (I use Smart Balance)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
3 egg whites
2 cups low-fat sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole white flour (I use King Arthur flours)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (I use Wyman's Wild Maine blueberries - tiny and very flavorful)

In large mixing bowl, beat canola oil with sugar. Add egg, and egg whites, one at a time. Mix well. Add sour cream and extracts. Beat well. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix very well.

Spoon half of batter into prepared pan. Smooth to make an even surface. Sprinkle with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture, and distribute blueberries evenly over that. Add the rest of the batter and smooth top.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until cake tests done (springs back when lightly touched). If your oven runs hot, test at 40 minutes on.

Cool in pan for half hour. Remove pan and invert cake onto serving plate and continue to cool on wire rack. While still warm, spread glaze over top, and allow to run down sides a bit. Recipe follows:

Lemon glaze:

2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon Smart Balance spread, melted

Drops of water

Stir first four ingredients together as well as you can, and then add warm water, a few drops at a time, until the glaze is thick but loose enough to spread easily on its own. Be very stingy with the water as you add it. Even a few drops too much is too much. Pour over top of coffee cake and use the back of a spoon to spread it to the edges and nudge it so it spills over the edge here and there. If it's too thick to run, add a few more drops of water until it loosens up.