Streusel Coffee Cake

This is something of a Southern treatment of a classic coffee cake, as it calls for both buttermilk and pecans. If you like, you can substitute either yogurt or sour cream in the batter, and swap the pecans in the streusel for walnuts — even almonds — if they’re more convenient.

All the egg yolks give this coffee cake a very appealing golden color as you can see. It can be eaten as a dessert or afternoon snack, though I’ll seize the opportunity to eat butter cake for breakfast whenever and wherever I can. Start by preheating your oven to 350. Combine the yolks and vanilla with about 1/4 of the buttermilk…

…and stir to combine them.

Now combine your dry ingredients in the mixer bowl and whisk them briefly.

Add the butter and stir it all together for a minute or so.

When the butter is thoroughly incorporated, add the rest of the buttermilk

Beat the mixture for 45-60 seconds until it’s smooth and uniform.

Scrape the bowl and beat the batter for another 15 seconds or so.

Add a third of the egg mixture…

…beat for 15 seconds and scrape…

…add more egg and so on until all the egg is incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan (for more on how to line a pan with parchment see Preparing a Cake Pan for Baking under the Techniques menu).

Then sprinkle on about a cup of pecan streusel.

Cover the surface completely.

And bake about an hour until a cake tester or sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool at least half an hour before serving. It can be eaten warm.