Rainy Day Breakfast

We had a brief spell of freakishly cool weather last week, which did wonders reminding us that summer will not actually last forever.

On one of those rainy days I found myself craving something fall-like, baked, and cinnamon-y. I was looking for my hand-written recipe from my mom for what she's always called "Cabin Cake," but couldn't find it and instead came across "Grandma Greiner's Sour Cream Coffee Cake." Well, that'll do. That'll do just fine.

Grandma Greiner's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Makes at least 9-10 generous servings.

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar (we use sucanat or evaporated cane juice)

2 eggs

2 cups flour (we used whole wheat pastry flour)

1 tsp good vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup full-fat sour cream

(also about 1/2 cup additional sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon for "filling")

Preheat oven to 325F and grease an 8x8 brownie pan. Cream butter with sugar, then add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. On the side, mix dry ingredients and then add to butter mixture, alternating with sour cream (begin and end with flour mixture). Pour 1/2 batter into bottom of brownie pan and spread as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with additional sugar and cinnamon, then top with second half of batter. Sprinkle additional sugar on top, if desired. Bake for about 40 minutes, and let it rest for about 5 minutes after removing it from the oven before slicing and serving. We eat ours with a drizzle of melted butter and a cup of hot coffee (decaf for the kiddos, of course).

This cake is moist and fluffy, even if you choose to make it with whole wheat flour, like we did. It's an excellent breakfast for adults and kiddos alike, and when it's baking it smells like brown butter and cinnamon and all those things I love about autumnal baking... even if it is just a rainy day in July.

Enjoy!