The Best Coffe Cake Around....Jewish Coffee Cake

I love to bake, and I have collected many recipes over the years, some are tried and true, and others were flops!!! This coffee cake has been my favorite over the years. Actually it's called Jewish Coffee Cake, I don't know why, I don't think it has anything to do with the Jewish tradition, or maybe it does.  I make it a lot, for my kids school meetings, church suppers, friends and family. This coffee cake is very moist, it calls for sour cream, and the topping is the best part, chocolate chips and chopped almonds, mixed with cinnamon and sugar!!!  I got this recipe from my friend Cheryl.  Cheryl made it for me many times, when I babysat her boys years ago, or when we would get together for dinner at her house, even before I was married.

I remember the first time getting ready to bake it.  I was just newly married, and we were having a couple of friends over to our new apartment,  I was so excited to make my friend Cheryl's cake for the first time.  I bought all the ingredients, I didn't have a well-stocked pantry as I do today, I was newly married.....I didn't even have a Kitchen Aid mixer like I do today, I had a new hand mixer, one of my bridal shower gifts, and I was so proud and EXCITED to finally use it.  I started mixing all the ingredients.  I knew how to cream the butter, eggs, sugar, and then add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. But something seemed wrong, I was to add 5 tablespoons of baking powder to the flour?  Really 5 tablespoons?  So I added it to the flour mixture, then to the creamed mixture, and woops, something happened, the batter got so stiff, I couldn't even mix it!  What did I do wrong?  This was the first time making this cake, and it was my favorite cake, and I was newly married, and I wanted everything to be perfect like my friend Cheryl's cake....and company was coming soon......WAAAA!!!!!  I threw out the batter, had no time to mix up another. What was a newly married wife to do?  I didn't have anything else to make, I didn't have any other recipes.....we didn't have the internet back then you know!  So, I sent my new husband out for Cannoli's, we had a bakery right around the corner.......and everyone loved the Cannoli's. Time has passed since then, 23 years to be exact, and I have perfected Jewish Coffee Cake, and have been baking it ever since!

Jewish Coffee Cake

2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. (yes 2 TSP NOT 5 TBS) baking power
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter at room temp
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs (farm fresh of course)
1 8 oz container sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds or whatever nut you like
3 TBS sugar
1 TBS cinnamon

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients, mix well.  Add 1 cup of chocolate chips and mix well. 

Topping
Rest of chocolate chips
Almonds
3 TBS sugar and 1 TBS cinnamon mixed
Mix the chocolate chips, almonds, cinnamon and sugar together

Pour half the butter into a well buttered and floured bundt cake pan, Add half of the topping, pour the rest of the batter on top.  Top with rest of the topping, cover every bit of batter, will look so pretty.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool.  Invert on a cake platter so the topping is upright on the platter, it's so pretty.  You can dust with powder sugar if desired......ENJOY!