Apple Pear Coffee Cake Recipe
A friend gave me this recipe to make for a breakfast I was hosting. The pan was empty before the breakfast was over! It's one of my most-requested recipes, probably because it's a bit different.
A friend gave me this recipe to make for a breakfast I was hosting. The pan was empty before the breakfast was over! It's one of my most-requested recipes, probably because it's a bit different.
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- topping:
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
- 2 tablespoons cold butter
- 1-1/4 cups chopped peeled apples
- 1/2 cup chopped peeled pear
- Carbohydrate 55.1477733333333 g
- Cholesterol 74.07375 mg
- Fat 17.2563 g
- Fiber 1.54546667627494 g
- Protein 4.48308 g
- Saturated Fat 9.31630933333333 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -15 serving (137g)
- Sodium 401.2585 mg
- Sugar 53.6023066570584 g
- Trans Fat 1.71341208333333 g
- Calories 391 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Fold in apples and pear. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle over batter.
- Bake at 350degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
The ingredient list fails to specify that fruit moisture levels fluctuate wildly depending on the variety you buy, meaning dense baking apples like Granny Smith require fine dicing to distribute evenly through dense batter. Scaling this recipe down for smaller households requires precision because halving two eggs demands beating one whole egg and weighing the resulting liquid to get an exact fifty-percent split. Standard baking pans measuring 13-by-9 inches hold substantial volume, so reducing the yield means dropping down to an 8-by-8 inch square pan while scaling baking times downward by roughly five to ten minutes.
Budget-conscious bakers can easily substitute regular granulated sugar for brown sugar in the crumb topping by blending in a small spoonful of molasses to mimic the natural moisture content. Pecans add cost to the grocery bill, but walnuts or toasted sunflower seeds offer identical crunch without shifting the overall fat ratios. Butter temperature dictates the success of both the creaming stage and the crumb topping texture. Softened butter incorporates air during creaming, whereas cold butter cut into the flour and sugar mixture creates distinct pockets of fat that melt slowly during baking to form a crumbly top crust.
Common disasters usually stem from incorrect oven temperatures or rushing the cooling process. Ovens running twenty degrees too hot will burn the pecan topping before the center sets around the fruit pieces. Testing doneness requires inserting a wooden toothpick into the deepest section of the cake where the apples and pears release moisture into the crumb. If the pick emerges with wet batter clinging to it, give the pan another five minutes in the heat.
Leftover portions retain their texture best when wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to two days. Refrigeration stalls staling but hardens the butter fats in the crumb, making the top layer unpleasantly dense unless microwaved briefly before eating.
