A Special Treat for New Parents: Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl

First of all, my apologies for being a bit unpredictable in the posting department, my life has been just a bit busy as of late and I have not even been making anything fun to even post about! Hopefully back on track now that a lot of big projects are done and the holidays are coming. Once it gets cold and dark earlier, I always want to bake and cook more and different things!

Shafer lounging...

Cort looking cute!

Two sets of our friends have just had babies! One couple had a boy, and one couple had a girl, and both are so happy and settling into their new lives of families of three! Along with all of the fun, comes some very late nights and very early mornings, and the distinction between night and day might seem to disappear. So, I thought it would be fun to make a special treat that can be enjoyed early in the morning (whether that be 2 A.M. or 6 A.M...or even 2 in the afternoon...because that might feel like early in the morning!). Coffee cake is one of my favorite special treats. We usually have a yummy coffee cake at my parents house for Christmas morning, and it almost always features this swirl of chocolate, a yummy twist to a classic.

This recipe makes enough for two cakes in loaf pans, and it was rather easy to make, just takes some time and organization due to the steps and assembly.

I found this recipe on LottieandDoof.com, and I did not stray a bit. Well, I did omit the pecans because you just never know if people like them or not, and, well, to be honest, I forgot to get them at the store.

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Ingredients for Crumb Topping:
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of butter, cut into small cubes

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Ingredients for Sour Cream Cake
3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 sticks of butter, room temperature
2 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
16 ounces of sour cream (2 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

Steps for crumb topping:
1. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine.

2. Add the cubed butter to the sugar mixture and pulse to create a sand like mixture. I tried to use my little Bullet processor, but it was not big enough, so I resorted to the good old fashioned fork, and it worked just fine.

3. Cover and place in the fridge.

Steps for Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl:
1. Combine the sugar, chocolate and cinnamon in a small bowl, and set aside.

Steps for the Sour Cream Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare your baking dishes. I used two standard loaf pans.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
3. In your electric mixer cream the butter until smooth. You do not want any chunks of butter.

4. Add the sugar to the butter and mix until light and fluffy.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until fully integrated. Be sure to scrape down your bowl.

6. Add the sour cream and the vanilla, mix until just combined.

7. Add the dry ingredients in three stages, mix until just combined.

8. Pour one third of the cake batter into each loaf pan and smooth out to cover the whole bottom of the pan.

9. Evenly cover this third with half of the chocolate cinnamon swirl.

10. Cover the cinnamon swirl mix with another third of the cake batter.

11. Cover the cake batter with the remaining cinnamon swirl.

12. Use the last third of the cake batter to cover the cinnamon swirl.

13. Cover the final layer of cake batter with the crumb topping.

14. Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check though because timing will depend on your pan size and oven.

Later tonight I will take them out of the pans and then wrap them in plastic wrap and tie them up with pretty pink and blue bows!

Enjoy!!

Cort just about to bark! 4pm and getting excited about dinner time...she thinks I will forget. 

Shafer just being Shafer!