Creamy Jammy Coffee Cakes Recipe

By Sarah Kieffer, The Vanilla Bean Blog

If you’ve ever fallen down a late-night TikTok or Instagram baking rabbit hole, you know just how mesmerizing it can be. You get caught up in the gooey but crispy-edged cookies, the perfectly piped frosting, and the cozy kitchens they’re baked in. Before you know it, two hours have gone by in a blink, and you’re drooling. Oh, how the times have changed, to where social media has become the new cookbook! In this fall and holiday season-inspired baking roundup, we’re highlighting some of the most talented bakers who have taken over our feeds (and even our kitchens) with their irresistible creations. Be sure to save these, because you’ll want to make them year after year.

Sarah Kieffer is the author of 100 Cookies, Baking for the Holidays, 100 Afternoon Sweets, 100 Morning Treats, the Holiday Baking Deck, and The Vanilla Bean Baking Book. She is the blogger behind The Vanilla Bean Blog and a contributor to major food publications. Her recipe for bang-the-pan cookies went viral after she introduced it in The New York Times. She takes all her own photographs for the blog and cookbooks. She lives in Minnesota with her family.

VIE: What makes the holiday time special for you?

Sarah: My holiday time is steeped in nostalgia. I have positive memories of the Christmas season stemming from when I was little, and I always look forward to the winter season every year.

VIE: What makes baking around the holidays important to you?

Growing up, I spent quite a bit of December baking cookies with friends and family, and carrying on that tradition of baking together with my own kids is important to me.

VIE: Are you the baker in the family, or are there others in the kitchen during the festivities?

I am the primary baker. I do have a baking day with my nieces, but they are still pretty little and get very preoccupied decorating sugar cookies with every possible available sprinkle. I do all the other baking pretty much solo.

VIE: What’s a holiday tradition you did as a child that you still do or try to do today?

Sugar cooking decorating day is something my mom always did with us, and I now do with my nieces and my teenage kids. Sugar cookies are my dad’s favorite, and I make sure they are always available.

VIE: If you could bake with ANY person, who would it be? 

I’d love to be able to bake with my Grandma Ethel. She baked a lot when we were kids, but I wasn’t interested at the time. Now she is gone, but I would love to spend the afternoon with her in her kitchen.

Creamy Jammy Coffee Cakes

Ingredients

For the Coffee Cake

3/4 cup [180 g] sour cream, at room temperature

1/4 cup [60 g] buttermilk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups [320 g] all-purpose flour

1 cup [200 g] granulated sugar

12 Tbsp [1 1/2 sticks or 170 g] unsalted butter, cut into 1 in [2.5 cm] pieces, at room temperature

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup [225 g] jam or lemon curd

For the Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz [227 g] cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup [50 g] granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

Directions

For the Coffee Cake

1. Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Grease eight 4 in [10 cm] cake pans or springform pans, and line the bottoms with parchment. Or prepare a jumbo muffin pan or ramekins.
2. In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, combine the flour and granulated sugar on low speed. Add the butter, one piece at a time, beating until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Remove 1 cup [130 g] of the mixture and set it aside in a small bowl.
4. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and use a spatula to mix the batter a few more times. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Spread 2 tablespoons of jam evenly over the cake batter in each pan. 

For the Cream Cheese Filling

1. In the stand mixer bowl in which you mixed the cake batter, beat together the cream cheese and granulated sugar on low speed until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and mix until incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed. Divide the cream cheese mixture among the pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Divide the reserved flour-butter mixture among the pans, sprinkling it evenly over the tops. Tap the pans gently on the counter twice to help get rid of any air bubbles.
2. Place the cake pans on a large sheet pan and bake until golden brown and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs, rotating the pan halfway through baking, 26 to 32 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let the cakes cool until barely warm or at room temperature. 
3. Remove the cakes from their pans and serve. Alternatively, the cakes can be covered in plastic wrap after cooling and stored in the refrigerator overnight.

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For more recipies, visit TheVanillaBeanBlog.com and follow @sarah_kieffer on Instagram.