This is a classic coffee cake, similar to what my late mother used to keep on hand for guests, but the recipe needed some help. First, I baked this in a flat-bottomed angel food type tube cake pan (the closest modern equivalent to my mother's tube pan w/ straight, 3-1/2" sides that was designed for streusel cakes). I covered the top w/ foil for part of the bake time to prevent the streusel from burning. This way the cake is turned out upside down, but is then inverted again so that the streusel is back on top. Fluted cake tops can't show the streusel, and the batter is less likely to run over in a taller pan. I made the cake as written except for using lowfat sour cream but w/o salt (almost 1 tsp) there is the "flat" taste some reviewers mentioned. When a baking recipe calls for butter but doesn't specify what type, the convention is that it means unsalted butter. Perhaps the submitter uses salted butter or margarine, so she didn't include the necessary salt in the recipe. If you use supermarket vanilla extract (and not extra-strength gourmet extract) the amount of vanilla should be doubled. Streusel sticks better if it includes a bit of butter. My batter came out too thick to spread well in the pan, and the cake was more oily-textured than I like. One solution to both issues is to sub in applesauce for half the recipe's butter. However, the recipe was a great starting point to recreate my mother's classic.
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This is a classic coffee cake, similar to what my late mother used to keep on hand for guests,...