I can never spell "streusel" correctly. Thank heaven for spell check.
Wednesday morning I was running around like the proverbial headless chicken. I slept late because I'm still feeling the effects of a cold I picked up in Michigan (those chilly breezes gave me the sneezes!), and because I'm selling some stuff on ebay and had to put some packages together.
Furthermore, hubby and I are leaving for another trip tomorrow, so I need to shift into packing gear soon. But other things to do first--some shopping (copper cookware on sale at TUESDAY MORNING!), some accounting, some vacuuming, and some work.
Anyway--one of my dear book club ladies brought me fresh eggs from her girls--Rhode Island Reds--and I simply had to use them before I left town. So I found a recipe in THE ART AND SOUL OF BAKING that called for four eggs: Sour Cream Streusel Cake. Trouble was, my sour cream was a month out of date and there wasn't enough of it, so I had to go to the grocery.
Anyway, the recipe is pretty straightforward, so I won't go through all the steps here. I will mention, however, that since I've gotten serious about baking, I've begun to weigh my ingredients instead of measuring them--greater accuracy, you see. And I've also learned that two cups of sugar is NOT sixteen ounces, but fourteen. Solid weights differ from liquid weights, and a cup of flour or sugar is only seven ounces. (I don't make up these rules, I just accept them. One day I will have a conference with the Master of the Universe and ask why a batter can hit the ball and not get a hit, but until then I'll just dip my head in a sagacious nod. )
So you cream the sugar and butter, and then add the raw eggs by tablespoonful. Why? Because if you dump them all in at once, the batter will lose that lovely light consistency and "break" into a gelatinous mess. You can get it to whip up again, but "breaking" is considered a bad thing. If someone can explain this to me, I'm willing to listen.
Anyway, I mixed in the eggs and vanilla, then alternated mixing the flour and sour cream. Then you spread half the batter in a tube pan, sprinkle with streusel, and then top with the remaining batter and more streusel. The concoction is baking now, so I'll let you know how it comes out.
In the mean time, I have to finish a proposal (don't worry, fearless agent, it's coming) and put together a blog piece on the end of baseball season. Sniff. Sort of sad to say farewell to the boys of summer. But there's always next year.
OH--why am I baking a coffee cake when I'm heading out of town? Because I'm heading to see the Grand Baby, and I thought it'd be nice to take a cake for my daughter. :-) Nanas should never arrive empty handed. :-)
And ta da! The cake is done. I turned it upside down, thinking the underside was more attractive that the streusel-bumpy top, but you can do whatever you like. And maybe I'll dust with powdered sugar before serving. But it's all ready to go visiting, and in a bakery box, no less!
Happy baking!
~~Angie
Wednesday morning I was running around like the proverbial headless chicken. I slept late because I'm still feeling the effects of a cold I picked up in Michigan (those chilly breezes gave me the sneezes!), and because I'm selling some stuff on ebay and had to put some packages together.
Furthermore, hubby and I are leaving for another trip tomorrow, so I need to shift into packing gear soon. But other things to do first--some shopping (copper cookware on sale at TUESDAY MORNING!), some accounting, some vacuuming, and some work.
 |
| Mix into light and fluffy batter |
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| Sprinkle top with streusel mix |
So you cream the sugar and butter, and then add the raw eggs by tablespoonful. Why? Because if you dump them all in at once, the batter will lose that lovely light consistency and "break" into a gelatinous mess. You can get it to whip up again, but "breaking" is considered a bad thing. If someone can explain this to me, I'm willing to listen.
Anyway, I mixed in the eggs and vanilla, then alternated mixing the flour and sour cream. Then you spread half the batter in a tube pan, sprinkle with streusel, and then top with the remaining batter and more streusel. The concoction is baking now, so I'll let you know how it comes out.
In the mean time, I have to finish a proposal (don't worry, fearless agent, it's coming) and put together a blog piece on the end of baseball season. Sniff. Sort of sad to say farewell to the boys of summer. But there's always next year.
OH--why am I baking a coffee cake when I'm heading out of town? Because I'm heading to see the Grand Baby, and I thought it'd be nice to take a cake for my daughter. :-) Nanas should never arrive empty handed. :-)
Happy baking!
~~Angie
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