cream cheese coffee cake

I brought this coffee cake to a baby shower; a room filled with good friends and joyful hearts. While there was food and gifts overflowing, there was also the expectation of someone so little and so new, waiting to experience this life. And while my heart was shaken this week with front page stories of horror and reminders of our fragile mortality, this little gathering encouraged me to hope. To not stop dreaming. To wrap  my life in as much beauty and wonder as I possible can. To not run from the hard things, but to walk through them. To bake a cake and give it away, piece by piece. To shine as bright as stars, and teach my children to do the same.

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Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

lemon sugar-almond topping
1/4 cup [1 3/4 ounces sugar]
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup sliced almonds

cake
2 1/4 cups [11 1/2 ounces] unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons [1 stick plus 2 tablespoons] unsalted butter, soft but still cool
1 cup [7 ounces] plus 7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
4 teaspoons lemon juice
4 large eggs
5 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups sour cream
8 ounces cream cheese, soft

topping

cake

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350. Spray a 10 inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray. Whisk the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, and the lemon zest at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, about 20 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add 4 teaspoons vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer on low, add one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half the sour cream, mixing until incorporated after each addition, 5-10 seconds. Repeat, using half the remaining flour and the all the remaining sour cream. Scrape down bowl and add the remaining flour; mix on low speed until the batter is combined, about 10 seconds.