Massachusetts Sour Cream Cake

I had quite a bit of sour cream on hand that needed to get used soon. This cake took care of 1-½ cups worth. The recipe is from The New York Times heritage cookbook, and is from Massachusetts.

The directions have you mix the baking soda into the sour cream and set aside. It becomes much lighter-almost foamy, so use a slightly bigger bowl to avoid any mishaps.

You Will Need:

1 ½ cups sour cream

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¾ cup butter

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs

3 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:

¼ cup chopped pecans (I omitted these)

½ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch tube pan.

Combine sour cream and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugar and butter until light. Add the eggs one at a time. Sift the baking powder with the flour and add it alternating with the sour cream mixture. Stir in the vanilla.

Toss the sugar, cinnamon and nuts if used together and sprinkle on top of cake. Place pan on a baking sheet (tube pans are notorious for leaking) and bake 1 hour and ten minutes or until it tests done. Cool 15 minutes in pan on a rack, then carefully unmould and cool completely.