Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Servings: 8
Yield: 8 servings

Description

This is the best coffee cake recipe if you love crispy, crunchy, buttery crumb toppings. Chef John uses twice as many crumbs — there's even a layer inside!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 7/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1 Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2 Butter an 8x10-inch baking dish.
3 Make the topping: Mix pecans, white sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, and salt together in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined and all components are coated with butter, 3 to 4 minutes.
4 Make the cake: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
5 Mix sugar and butter together in a large bowl with a spatula until well blended. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla. Gradually whisk in flour mixture until flour is just incorporated; do not overmix.
6 Spread 1/2 of the batter over the bottom of the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle with 1/2 of the topping. Carefully spoon remaining batter over topping, then sprinkle with remaining topping; very gently press topping into batter.
7 Bake in the preheated oven until a bamboo skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.
8 Let cool slightly before serving.