Apricot, Almond — Pineapple Sour Cream Coffee Cake — The Cake She Made Just Because It Was Sunday

Terry is adjusting. I want to write about Terry because this is a journal about feeding people and Terry Morales Whitehawk has been feeding people her whole life and now she is learning to feed herself, which is a different and harder task. She was always cooking for Danny — the posole, the pinto beans, the caldo de res, all of it calibrated to what he could eat and what he needed and when he needed it. Now she cooks for herself and for the grandchildren when they visit and the scale is different and the purpose is different and she is finding her way.

I drive to Turley every Sunday. Same as always. I cook there some Sundays, or I bring food, or Terry cooks and I eat what she makes, and we sit at the kitchen table where Danny used to sit and we talk, or we do not talk, and both are fine. She is sixty-three years old and she has been a caregiver for twenty years, first for Danny's injuries and then for Danny's dying, and what do you do with yourself when the person you were caring for is gone? You are still yourself. You are Terry Whitehawk. You are still the woman who makes the best posole in North Tulsa and who can snap beans faster than anyone I know and who has been doing this since before I was alive. The caregiving is over. The cooking is still there.

She made me a cake this Sunday. Not my birthday — no occasion. She made the tres leches cake that Hannah usually makes at Christmas, Rosa's recipe, just because she wanted to and she had the ingredients and it was Sunday. She put it on the table and said: "It needs more cream," which is what she always says, and it was exactly right, and I ate two pieces, and she watched me eat it with the satisfaction of a woman who has been feeding people for sixty-three years and knows it is what she is best at. "More?" she said. I said yes. She cut me another piece. That is the whole Sunday.

Terry’s tres leches was Rosa’s recipe, made from memory, made because it was Sunday and she had what she needed — that is the whole story of how the best cakes get made. This sour cream coffee cake with apricot, almond, and pineapple lives in that same spirit: not a birthday cake, not an occasion cake, just a cake that comes together when someone decides the people at the table deserve something sweet and tender. The sour cream keeps it moist and close-grained, the fruit gives it brightness, and it is the kind of thing you make once and then make again because someone asked for another piece.

Apricot, Almond & Pineapple Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup full-fat sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
• 3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, divided
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan or a 10-inch tube pan and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat softened butter and granulated sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add wet ingredients. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth and fully combined.
4. Incorporate the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture in two additions, stirring gently until just combined — do not overmix.
5. Fold in the fruit. Gently fold in the drained crushed pineapple and chopped dried apricots until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
6. Layer and top. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir together the sliced almonds (reserving 2 tablespoons), brown sugar, and cinnamon. Scatter the almond mixture over the top of the batter, then scatter the reserved almonds over that.
7. Bake. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is golden. If the almonds begin to brown too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 35 minutes.
8. Cool and serve. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature. It keeps well, tightly covered, for up to 3 days — if it lasts that long.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 368 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 178mg