The "Russian" Sour Cream Coffee Cake: A Jewish Traditional Treat

Jews arrived in Vermont in the 1800s, if not before; by 1900 the Census picks up their presence here in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and calls them "Russians." Recall that the Census was more interested in country of origin than in the complex of religion, culture, and historical background that we now call ethnicity. The 1920 Census mentioned five "Russian Jews" in St. Johnsbury and mentions that some had Yiddish as their native language.

Pause here for reflection: The Catholic Church decision to chase Jews out of the Mediterranean created the exodus that we call the Diaspora. Jews moved north, into an emptier landscape where farming was tough and winters rough but fewer people competed for real estate. That's how they arrived in Russia, the Balkans, Poland, Germany -- nations whose borders shifted and merged. Helping each other to survive, and gathering for worship, they often lived in clusters. More on that later.

The recipe that I use for sour cream coffee cake is called "Russian" in the cookbook author's mother's notes but the cookbook author -- Mitchell Davis -- says it's a "family" recipe and he doubts the connection to Moscow. What he probably didn't realize when he wrote THE MENSCH COOKBOOK (2002) is that the term "Russian" simply meant Jewish in a lot of recipes from his mother's and grandmother's days.


The basics of the classic Jewish sour cream coffee cake involve a tube pan -- the newest ones that come apart are the best but you can use an old angel-food-cake pan if you're willing to grease and flour it well, and wrestle a bit in getting the cake out -- and a technique of layering batter and "filling." The filling is also called "topping" in some versions and is a mix of sugars, cinnamon, and nuts. I don't use the nuts in my version, for two reasons: my husband isn't wild about them, and my guests often include people with nut allergies. I've learned that even walnuts are often contaminated with peanut oil, and why take chances on poisoning a guest?

The 1969 cookbook FROM MANNA TO MOUSSE lists these ingredients:

1/4 pound margarine
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
"Filling" of 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, and (surprise) 1/2 cup chocolate sprinkles (a.k.a. jimmies)

After creaming the margarine (ick!) and sugar, you beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix separately the flour, baking powder, and baking soda (dry ingredients). And mix in another dish the sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Add these two mixtures alternately to the first one, mixing. Spoon three-fourths of the batter into a greased tube pan and sprinkle with half of the "filling." Add the rest of the batter to the pan, sprinkle on the second half of the "filling," and work it gently into the top surface. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

I have a Canadian Hadassah cookbook from 1982 hat is a nightmare of incorrect amount, ingredients left out, and faulty instructions. It has the same basic recipe (one less egg, half a cup less flour; adds a half teaspoon of salt), but bakes the cake in either an 8-inch springform pan (that would be my smaller cheesecake pan), or an 8-inch-square ovenproof dish. Warning: trying to do the layering trick with this batter in a flat square dish is going to be frustrating. That's why I haven't tried to push my recipe into a 9 by 11 cake pan, although it would make some things much easier, especially if I want to serve the cake warm. (You can't do that very well with a tube pan.)

I've altered my recipe to cut down on saturated fats and to leave out the nuts. I also routinely replace sour cream with yogurt when I cook, for health reasons. (Next week I plan to try replacing the "2 cups of sugar" in the batter with Splenda, leaving the real sugars just in the "filling.") Note the process for this: The best part about THE MENSCH COOKBOOK is its use of modern techniques to create reliable results. Note that this makes a larger cake than the previous recipe.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix in a small bowl this "filling": one-third cup each of brown sugar and white sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon.
Blend, with the paddle attachment on your electric mixer, 1 stick of butter softened and a half cup of good vegetable shortening or corn oil and 2 cups sugar; beat in, one at a time, 4 large eggs. Scrape the bowl and beat a bit more -- it should be fluffy and light. Then beat in 2 teaspoons EACH of vanilla extract, baking powder, and baking soda. Stop the mixer and remove the paddle. Put 4 cups flour in a bowl, and measure out 2 cups yogurt. Using a wooden spoon gently stir into the batter half of the yogurt (or sour cream if you prefer), then half the flour, then repeat.
Into a well-greased two-piece tube pan (10-inch), drop spoonfuls of the batter until you've put in one-third of it. Sprinkle with one-third of the "filling." Repeat. And with the final one-third of the batter, DO NOT add the filling! (There's a reason.) Tuck the cake into the oven for 30 minutes; open the oven and pull the rack GENTLY halfway out, so you can sprinkle the last one-third of the filling onto the half-cooked batter. Let the cake bake for 40 minutes more, and cool completely in the pan before removing.

That trick about adding the final layer of "filling" halfway through the baking avoids scorching the cinnamon, a very unpleasant occurrence that I've experienced with other cinnamon-topped recipes. Good move.

Coming next: BABKA -- older and modern versions. And yes please, do add comments, suggestions, or your own recipes.