Recipe: Vegan "Sour Cream" Coffee Cake

As a general rule, I'm not much of a "cake" person.  Give me ice cream, brownies, pie...heck, even a cupcake, but I will never go out of my way to eat cake.  But one day, while surfing through my favorite vegan recipe site - VegWeb - I discovered what looked like a simple and delicious vegan sour cream coffee cake I could make for a bake sale at work.  (I love having to bake things for work functions.  You get instant feedback and if you don't particularly like what you've made, there are bound to be scavengers around who will eat it.)

I was a little nervous to make this coffee cake because 1. it's vegan and some vegan desserts are not so great, as I've learned from my adventures in cooking/baking and 2. I'd never made a cake from scratch before.  Honestly, as a kid, I may not have even realized that cakes could be made from scratch.  But I gave it a whirl and was very happy with the results.  

Ingredients:

Coffee Cake:

•     1/2 cup vegan butter
•     1 cup sugar
•     2 egg substitutes (1/4 cup soy yogurt = 1 egg)
•     1 cup vegan sour cream (no sour cream?  use more yogurt!)
•     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•     2 cups all-purpose flour
•     1 teaspoon baking powder
•     1 teaspoon baking soda
•     1/4 teaspoon salt

    Topping/Filling:

•     1/4 cup sugar
•     1/3 cup packed brown sugar
•     2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•     1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and grease 9x13" pan. In a mixing bowl, cream vegan butter and sugar. Add egg substitutes, sour cream and vanilla; mix well.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and beat until combined.

3. Pour half the batter into prepared pan. Combine topping ingredients, and sprinkle half of topping over batter.

4. Add remaining batter and topping. Bake for 40 minutes or until done.

Voila!  Easy peasy, cake baking!  

Some things to note:

• The batter is more like bread dough than a traditional cake mix.  Don't panic!  I thought I'd ruined the coffee cake, but it ended up being a-ok in the end.  (It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever seen, but...)
• Walnuts are hella expensive at most grocery stores right now.  (They were $10 a bag at one store I went to) Places like Whole Foods have them at a "normal" price.
• This cake was extremely well received by everyone I work with.  I've never gotten so many requests for a recipe before.  It makes a ton of cake and will be enjoyed by vegans and non vegans alike.

For more helpful tips, view the original recipe over at VegWeb.