cinnamon sour cream loaf

Festive baking is in full swing on blogs at the moment and here I am posting a cake I made almost two months ago. Oh well.

However, I think this could easily be considered a festive bake since cinnamon is a warm, seasonal flavour. Just display the cake with a different tablecloth. 😄

Fun fact: I've had this fun, floral tablecloth since my first year at art school in Edinburgh (shockingly, over 10 years ago now.) My Mum found it in a second hand/vintage shop in the Grassmarket and it's by Mary Quant! 

Although the flavour of the cake was great I was disappointed by the texture. I wouldn't necessarily describe it as dense but it did have quite a tight crumb. I'm unsure whether this is correct for the recipe or if I was at fault. The mixture split slightly after I added the second egg so I likely lost some air in the batter when I combined everything. The raw cake batter tasted AMAZING though, so it may be worth trying again sometime.

The cinnamon-spiced cream cheese is also worthy of capital letters as it's FANTASTIC! Oh my, so good. Not necessarily a complaint, but the recipe produced rather a lot of icing. I'd say more than necessary for this size of loaf and you can see from my photos that I put on a good, thick layer. I used about half the quantity for this cake and the rest was used a few days later on a banana bread.

I also found the quantity of cinnamon sugar in the recipe somewhat excessive. However, it keeps well in a sealed container and it has added some festive flair to my morning porridge.

So is anybody actually prepared for Christmas because I'm certainly not. I've only bought two presents and have organised zero baking or handmade gifts which is unheard of for me. I've also only watched about three corny Christmas films so far. Disaster. I've been so wrapped up with trying to finish renovating my house that Christmas hasn't really entered my head. In the past few weeks the heating has been installed, floors have been laid, doors have been hung, all walls, ceilings and woodwork have been painted and curtain poles have gone up. Just the plumbing and rewiring to finish and the kitchen units to install. It's close!

Cinnamon sour cream loaf
Recipe from Primrose Bakery "Everyday" book by Martha Swift  

for the cake:
165g self-raising flour
1 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
150g softened butter, slightly salted
180g golden caster sugar
2 eggs, large
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
120ml sour cream

cinnamon cream cheese icing:
50g butter, softened
100g cream cheese
225g icing sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

cinnamon sugar:
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/180c/fan 160c and line a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper. In a large bowl sift together the flour and cinnamon, stir together and set aside. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the first egg and beat well before adding the second egg and the vanilla extract. Mix again. Add half of the flour mixture and mix on a slow speed until everything is combined, then add half of the sour cream and mix until just combined. Repeat the previous step so all the flour and sour cream is incorporated. 

Pour the mixture into the lined tin and spread out evenly. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer/knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

For the icing, put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix until well combined. I start by mixing with a spoon before swapping to an electric mixer as it helps to minimise the icing sugar dust cloud. Beat the icing for about 1 minute until smooth. For the cinnamon sugar simply stir together the caster sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Spread the icing on top of the cooled sponge and sprinkle the cinnamon sponge on top.

sour cream coffee cake

A deceptive title as this cake contains no coffee whatsoever. It should actually be called "best ever cinnamon and pecan cake." Seriously, this is one of my favourite cakes I've baked in a long time. And to think I only baked it as I wanted to use up left over sour cream!

Apparently this American classic is called a "coffee cake" as it's the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cuppa. It certainly is, although in my case my cuppa is always tea.

It's one of those cakes where the flavours and textures wrap around your tongue in a very satisfying fashion.  The topping (and filling) is heavily cinnamon spiced, sweet and crunchy with demerara sugar and chopped pecans. Underneath all that delightful texture is a soft sponge packed with aromatic, sweet vanilla. Sour cream definitely brings something special to the party too. The soft cake crumb seems to absorb the vanilla flavour more than usual... or perhaps I'm just starting to waffling rubbish.

Basically, this cake is full on with flavour and texture. I love it. It completely exceeded my expectations. I'm tempted to buy more sour cream just so I can make this cake again!

On a different note, I noticed that it will be 5 years tomorrow since I started this blog. How time flies when you're having fun!

Sour cream coffee cake/ utterly brilliant cinnamon and pecan cake

Recipe adapted from The Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook 
(double the quantities and you can bake it in a 2.5L bundt tin)

125g softened butter

200g granulated sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

125g plain flour

150ml sour cream (I didn't quite have enough so substituted 50g with plain yoghurt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

100g chopped pecans

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

75g demerara (brown) sugar

Preheat the oven to 190C/ 170C Fan/ Gas 5. Grease a deep 18cm/7 inch round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Beat together the butter and granulated sugar for a couple of minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well (you can add a tablespoon of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling.) Pour in the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder then add to the other mixture. Mix until everything is combined.

In another bowl mix the demerara sugar with the chopped pecans and cinnamon. Pour half the cake batter into the tin and spread out evenly, sprinkle half the nut mixture on top, then cover with the remaining cake batter. Level the batter out again before sprinkling the remaining nut mixture on top. (I ended up not using all of the sugar/cinnamon mix, so add as much as you want.) Press the nuts down gently so that they stick to the batter.

Bake for 1 hour in the centre of the oven until firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Burnt sugar (caramel) cake

This was all that was left from my Mum's birthday cake at the weekend by the time I got the camera out. I thought I'd better include the recipe photograph for reference since the last few slices of the cake look as if they have been unceremoniously thrown at a plate.

I experienced a lot of caramel induced rage with this bake and was convinced I had produced a dud BUT... this was actually a really good cake. It had a caramel flavour without being overly sweet and a soft texture, I'm assuming due to addition of sour cream. The sugar shard decoration also provided a fun crunch as well as a pretty stained glass window effect. It's a shame I didn't get a photograph of the cake in its full glory.

Now I have 100g leftover sour cream. Any suggestions on what to bake with it?

Burnt sugar cake
Recipe from Cakes Galore by Valerie Barrett accompanied by my own rage commentary.

sponges:
450g caster sugar
125ml boiling water
175g softened butter, unsalted
3 eggs
300g self-raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
200ml soured cream

icing:
125g softened butter, unsalted
250g icing sugar
3 tbsp caster sugar

Start by making a caramel syrup. On a medium heat on the hob heat 200g of the caster sugar in a heavy based saucepan. Stir occasionally until the sugar has melted then cook without stirring until it's liquid and dark golden in colour (I burnt my first batch, which is becoming a tradition whenever I make caramel.) Take off the heat and gradually pour in the boiling water, taking care not to burn yourself as it will bubble fiercely. Return the pan to a simmering heat and stir continuously for a minute until the caramel/sugar has dissolved. (Mine seized into ugly lumps and didn't want to dissolve at all even after a few minutes. I eventually thought I had managed, but I saw more lumps as it cooled.) Pour the caramel into a heatproof measuring jug and leave to cool. 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Grease two 20cm round sandwich tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper. Beat together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. In a separate bowl sift together the flour and bicarbonate of soda. In another bowl (yay, more bowls to wash) mix together the soured cream with 125ml of the cooled caramel syrup (and this is when the caramel went really lumpy, again. I picked out the worst lumps.) Add the flour mix and sour cream to the cake batter, alternating them in a couple of batches, until everything is fully incorporated. 

Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes or until risen, golden and firm to touch (mine easily took an extra 5-10 minutes to bake. They rose really strangely: the sides puffed up but the centre stayed in a sad hollow. Why?!) Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing, mix together the butter, sugar and remaining caramel until soft and fluffy. Sandwich the cakes together with half of the mix then spread the rest on top. As my caramel "syrup" had completely solidified by this point I dumped it and went with a plain butter icing. I don't think the cake missed the extra caramel flavour as it was already sweet.

To make the sugar shards, (yay, MORE caramel) lightly oil a baking tray then put 3tbsp caster sugar into a heavy based saucepan and gently heat until the sugar turns liquid and golden in colour. Quickly pour this onto the prepared tray, tilting it to make sure the liquid spreads evenly. Leave until completely cold then break off into shards and use to decorate the cake.