The Sour Cream Substitute That Will Keep Your Coffee Cake Perfectly Tender

Craving a slice of homemade coffee cake with a nutty streusel topping but haven't got any sour cream for the batter? Fortunately, you can substitute the sour cream for plain or Greek yogurt to create a cake that's equally as tender.

Sour cream and yogurt are both fermented dairy products made from milk. The former is often used in baked goods, like cakes and bundts, to lend them a rich flavor profile and moist crumb. Better yet, it contains acid, which reacts with baking soda and boosts its leavening capabilities. This encourages a domed high rise on muffins and elicits a tender texture. The good news is that yogurt shares all these awesome qualities, which means you can substitute it using a 1:1 ratio in a recipe that calls for sour cream. For example, if your coffee cake requires half a cup of sour cream, you can simply switch it for the same amount of yogurt, whether it be plain, Greek, or a flavored variety.

The only difference when using yogurt instead of sour cream is that the mouthfeel of your cake may not be as rich. This is because sour cream has a higher fat content than yogurt. Your bake will also have a slightly tangier note because yogurt is more acidic than sour cream. However, this tangy quality provides a welcome counterbalance to the sweetness of a coffee cake and cuts through the richness of a streusel or crumb topping that features brown sugar and nuts.

If you opt for a strained Greek yogurt over a thinner set yogurt, you'll be able to more than match the viscosity of sour cream and boost the protein content of your cake at the same time, which will help your bake retain its structure better. Moreover, you could go a step further and use a flavored yogurt. For example, a vanilla yogurt would work beautifully in this blueberry-lavender coffee cake, which already features vanilla extract, and provides extra sweetness to balance out the flavor of the tart fruit. Meanwhile, the natural acidity from the yogurt will reinforce the zing of the fresh lemon in the glaze. Having said that, plain yogurt will suffice in a cake that's already aromatic with warming spices, such as this cinnamon peach coffee cake.

The key to subbing sour cream for yogurt is to avoid using non-fat yogurt. As yogurt already contains less fat than sour cream, you'll need to use a variety that still has some fat so your coffee cake has a tender quality. The fat will also enrich the flavor of the cake and imbue it with a rounded personality. The result? A lighter coffee cake with a scrumptious tang and a moreish taste.