Cake for Coffee

« Sour cream coffee cake with raspberry and cinnamon streusel filling. »

When I think of coffee cake, I think of a dense, slightly sweet cake with cinnamon swirls and nuts in it, but when I say coffee cake in Finland, I get this weird look as if to ask why one would put coffee in a cake. Treats with coffee in Finland, if not some kind of pulla, are some sort of seriously heavy and sweet cream confection. I've also noticed that while berries have an exalted, perhaps even near ubiquitous, place in Finnish desserts, I've not found any local cakes that have the fruit baked inside the cake and instead are always part of the topping or unbaked filling. I don't know if this holds in all parts of Finland, but I couldn't find a single recipe in older, and even some recent, cookbooks that had berries baked in the dough or batter. It's interesting and makes me wonder why not.

So, I decided to torture my familiar test subjects, a.k.a. coworkers, to a sour cream coffee cake with blueberries to see if the concept was too alien or if a real coffee cake might not appeal. A couple commented that it was strange, but few crumbs were left on the serving plate so in spite of the unfamiliar concept, it didn't appear to slow down consumption. :) So, if Finns want to try this cake as a change of pace, I don't think there will be any leftovers.

Coffee cake is another one of those comfort foods that make me think of home. I totted up a list of foods from home that make me feel homesick and, strangely, almost all of them are sugary dessert or breakfast kinds of foods, neither of which I ate very often back home. I'm sure there is a doctoral dissertation on the gastronomic nostalgia of expats in there somewhere.

At long last, too, I finally found the dairy product in Finland that most closely resembles American sour cream, Flora Fraîche with a 20% fat content. It's not créme fraîche, not smetana, not kermaviili, just fraîche. I figured that a country with a dizzying array of dairy products, especially sour ones, that I'd eventually try the right one. It performed perfectly where I had previously been somewhat disappointed with kermaviili.

A sturdy, powerful mixer is highly recommended for the mixing of the butter and sour cream with the dry ingredients as it gets quite stiff and difficult to work with. You could probably also do it with a biscuit dough tool/potato masher [the one that cuts the butter into the flour] but that will take more time and effort. Jarkko was playing World of Warcraft on the computer which is plugged into the step-down transformer my mixer requires so I had to do the first cake the hard way which made my hand mixer very, very hot. Adding in the egg mixture should also be done slowly as it will slop over the sides of the bowl if not added slowly.

Adding the streusel and fruit layers is easy, but I was disappointed when I followed the recipe to the letter with the 2 cups of batter between layers as I found that it wasn't enough and that they melded into one band of goo. I had so much batter left over after the adding the layers that the streusel distribution through the cake was suboptimal. So be more generous with the batter between layers and save a wee bit for yourself as the batter is damned tasty.

Lemon-Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Makes: 1 cake that serves 12 to 16 people
Special tools: A fixed-bottom, 10-inch tube pan (with 10-cup capacity), good mixer, preferably standing
Time: 20 mins prep and 1 hour baking
Source: CI

Berry filling

• 1 cup or 2,5dl frozen blueberries or raspberries
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Streusel

• 3/4 cup or 1,75dl unbleached all-purpose flour (3.75oz or 106g)
• 3/4 cup or 1,75dl granulated sugar (5.25oz or 150g)
• 1/2 cup or 1,25dl packed dark brown sugar (3.5oz or 100g)
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons or 30g unsalted butter, cold, cut into 2 pieces
• 1 cup or 2,5dl pecans, chopped

Cake

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) or 170g unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons or 30g butter, softened for greasing pan
• 4 large eggs
• 1.5 cups or 3,5dl sour cream [Flora Fraîche is the closest to American sour cream in .fi with 20% fat]
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2.25 cups or 5,25dl unbleached all-purpose flour (11.5oz or 325g)
• 1.25 cups or 3dl granulated sugar (8.75oz or 250g)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt

1. Toss 1 cup frozen blueberries with 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest in small bowl and set aside.
2. For the streusel: In food processor, process flour, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup (,75 dl) dark brown sugar, and cinnamon until combined, about 15 seconds. Transfer 1 1/4 cups (3 dl) of flour/sugar mixture to small bowl; stir in remaining 1/4 cup (,75 dl) brown sugar and set aside to use for streusel filling. Add butter and pecans to mixture in food processor; pulse until nuts and butter resemble small pebbly pieces, about ten 1-second pulses. Set aside to use as streusel topping.
3. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350F/175C degrees. Grease 10-inch tube pan with 2 tablespoons softened butter. Whisk eggs, 1 cup (2,5 dl) sour cream, and vanilla in medium bowl until combined.
4. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl of standing mixer; mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add butter and remaining 1/2 cup (1 dl) sour cream; mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened and mixture resembles wet sand, with few large butter pieces remaining, about 1 1/2 minutes. Increase to medium speed and beat until batter comes together, about 10 seconds; scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Lower speed to medium-low and gradually add egg mixture in 3 additions, beating for 20 seconds after each and scraping down sides of bowl. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until batter is light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
5. Using rubber spatula, spread 2 cups (5 dl) batter in bottom of prepared pan, smoothing surface. Sprinkle evenly with 1/2 cup (1 dl) blueberries. Sprinkle evenly with 3/4 cup (1,75 dl) streusel filling (without butter or nuts). Repeat with another 2 cups batter, remaining 1/2 cup (1 dl) blueberries, and remaining 3/4 cup (1,75 dl) streusel filling (without butter or nuts). Spread remaining batter over, then sprinkle with streusel topping (with butter and nuts).
6. Bake until cake feels firm to touch and long toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean (bits of sugar from streusel may cling to tester), 50 to 60 minutes. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rimmed baking sheet (cake will be streusel-side down); remove tube pan, place wire rack on top of cake, and reinvert cake streusel-side up. Cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Cut into wedges and serve. (Cake can be wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.)