Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

TA-DAH!!! How do you like the new look?? I felt it was about time for a teeny bit of sprucing up around here! I have to figure out a way to move my recipe index to one of those tabs, but other than that, it's all ready to go! I love it, it's cleaner and brighter and makes me happy! Plus, I did it ALL by myself! *pat on the back* Code and everything, woohoo! I hope everyone likes it. :) Please leave a comment if you find any errors or malfunctions! Also, I finally joined the social media parade and created a Facebook page for Dimples and Delights, and you can follow it with that cute little red Facebook button in the right column. See you there!

Time for something yummy and sunny, because yet again we're getting dumped on by a snowstorm! Supposedly, we're going to get 8-14 inches, but it's going to have to take it up a notch if we're going to get there. I shall snuggle in and bake some bread (very excited about this recipe!) and try to resist the urge to bake gingerbread (it's just so Christmassy outside!) and pray that this storm doesn't destroy what is left of my poor lilac bush. The last one that we missed while in Utah broke a few crucial branches. Sadness. Oh well!! At least it's still alive! I can't help it, even now, snowstorms are fun. The slushy muddy days after them, not so much, but I'll always be a sucker for snow.

Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake (inspired by Cooks Illustrated)
(High altitude adjustments in italics)
Printable Recipe

Lemon Streusel:

zest from 1 lemon
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour

a pinch of salt
1 stick (8 tbsp. butter), room temperature

Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus 2 Tb)
1 1/8 tsp baking powder (1/2 tsp)
1 1/8 tsp baking soda (1/2 tsp)
1 tsp table salt
10 Tb (1 stick plus 2 Tb) butter, softened but still cool
1 cup plus 4 Tb sugar (minus 2 Tb from the 1 cup)
2 Tb lemon zest plus 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 large eggs (5 large eggs)
5 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (365 degrees for high altitude) Grease a 10 inch tube pan and set aside.

Start with your streusel: Rub the lemon zest into the sugar, add the flour and salt and whisk together. Add the butter and cut/rub together until all dry bits are incorporated and your streusel has clumped together like slightly dry cookie dough. This takes a little while, but it's so worth it! Set your streusel in the fridge while you get your cake ready.

Now the cake: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside. Rub the lemon zest into 1 cup sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and beat until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides again. Add 4 tsp vanilla and mix till combined. Reduce speed to low and add one-third flour mixture, followed by half of sour cream, mixing until combined after each addition. Repeat with the last two thirds of the flour mixture and the remaining sour cream.

Reserve 2 and 1/4 cups batter and set aside. Spoon remaining batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Return now-empty bowl (no need to wash it out) to mixer and beat cream cheese, remaining 4 Tb sugar, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and remaining tsp vanilla on medium speed until smooth. Add 1 and 1/4 cup of the reserved batter and mix until combined. Spoon cheese filling mixture evenly over batter, keeping filling about 1 inch from edges of pan and smooth the top. Dollop the remaining cup reserved batter over filling and smooth the top. It won't cover the filling completely, that's okay! With butter knife or offset spatula, gently swirl filling into batter using figure-8 motion, being careful to not drag filling to bottom or edges of pan. Firmly tap pan on counter 2 or 3 times to get rid of any bubbles. Sprinkle lemon streusel evenly over batter and gently press into batter to make sure it sticks.

Bake until top is golden, and long skewer inserted into cake comes out clean (skewer will be wet if inserted into cheese filling), 45 to 55 minutes. Remove pan from oven and cool in pan on wire rack 1 hour. Gently invert cake onto rimmed baking sheet (cake will be topping-side down); remove tube pan, place wire rack on top of cake, and invert cake sugar-side up. It will have fallen a bit, that's okay! It's just the filling deflating. Let it cool completely before slicing!! This may take another hour or two, be patient, if you cut into it while still warm it will fall completely!

This is my favorite coffee cake in the whole wide world!! Tall and decadent, topped with the most perfect streusel (with just a hint of lemon), this cake is a showstopper no matter what the occasion!

Mmm, that cheesecake ribbon. Just enough, rich and tangy, floating in the middle of a soft, buttery, vanilla and almond-scented coffeecake, it takes this cake to a whole new level of deliciousness!

Don't be intimidated by the instructions, just read them through once or twice before you get started and you'll be fine, I promise it's not as hard as it looks. And you will be SO glad you did!