Cranberry Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake

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Cranberry Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake

Cranberry Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake is a tender, moist sour cream coffee cake enhanced with orange rind and fresh cranberries, under a brown sugar, cinnamon and pecan streusel.

Cook Time1

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cranberry Coffee Cake, Cranberry Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake

Servings: servings

Calories: 509kcal

Author: Helen S. Fletcher

Equipment

9 x 2 inch square cake pan

Ingredients

Pecan Streusel

3/4 cup brown sugar (150 grams)
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, cut up and cold
3/4 cup pecans, finely cut (85 grams)

Coffee Cake

1 - 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries (340 grams)
Zest from 1 large orange
2 cups all-purpose flour (280 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (114 grams, or 1 stick)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream (114 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

Pecan Streusel

Place the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a processor bowl. Pulse several times to mix.
Add the cold butter and process until it starts making crumbs. Some butter may not be incorporated — that's fine.
Add the pecans and pulse several times until finely cut in. Refrigerate until needed.

Coffee Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9 x 2 inch square cake pan with parchment, spray with a non-stick baking release and set aside.
Place the cranberries on a rimmed baking sheet and pick over them for any mushy ones. Freeze until rock hard.
Grate the zest of the orange and set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream the sugar, butter and orange zest until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla, mixing well.
Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom as necessary. Beat until light and well combined. If the mixture curdles, and it probably will, raise the speed of the mixer to bring it back together. If that doesn't do it, the flour in the next step will.
Add the flour in three parts and the sour cream in two, alternating, starting and ending with the flour.
Place the frozen cranberries in a food processor and pulse to coarsely chop. It will make a loud racket.
Add to the batter and mix just until well combined. The batter will be very firm because of the frozen cranberries. After mixing by machine, mix by hand a few times to incorporate anything on the bottom and sides.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
Top with the reserved pecan streusel.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly.

Notes

There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above. If you have questions, look at the photos or read the header of the article. Many of them will be answered there.

As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.

Unless otherwise noted, salt refers to table salt.

Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

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By freezing the cranberries they chop easily in the processor and don't release too much juice. Do this at the last minute.

Because the batter is so cold and stiff, this takes almost twice as long to bake as a normal coffee cake — it has to come up to temperature in the oven before baking really starts. Don't be impatient.

Blueberries can be substituted. Add the zest of one or two lemons if you do.

Nutrition