December 2, 2025
Brown Sugar Sour Cream Cake
with Ganache Filling + Cinnamon Cream
Made one 8” round cake, 6-8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 200g light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup / 120g vegetable oil
- ¾ cup / 180g sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup /125 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Cinnamon Whipped Cream
- 1 cup / 220g heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 4 ounces / 115g chopped semi-sweet or dark chocolate
- ¼ cup / 60g heavy cream
- Peach Preserve Filling (Alternative)
- 1 cup peach preserves
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Add the oil, sour cream, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Sprinkle the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the top and whisk until just blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 28–32 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely.
- Using a small spoon, carve a 1/2-inch-wide ring around the entire cake, about 2 inches from the outer edge, going about ½ inch deep. Remove the loose cake gently to create a circular trough.
- For the ganache, heat the cream until steaming, pour over the chopped chocolate, let stand for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Cool until thick and spreadable, then spoon into the trough. For the whipped cream, whisk the heavy cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla to soft peaks. Spoon or pipe the cream over the top of the cake, covering the ganache or preserves but leaving a 1-inch border of cake visible around the edge.
- Serve immediately.
Optional fillings:
Peach preserves. Warm slightly before adding to baked cake.
Garnish suggestion:
cinnamon sugar dust for the top
chocolate shavings
Carla’s “Jazz It Up” Pie Topping Bar
- Fresh fruit tossed with thinned cranberry sauce
- The perfect remix of that leftover cranberry sauce.
- Candied bacon, chopped
- Plain Toasted nuts – walnuts & pecans are the best!
- Apple cider reduction with cinnamon stick
- Salted caramel sauce
- Chili-Crisp Pecans or Chili-Crisp Drizzle- Sweet, heat, crunchy.
- A tiny drizzle of chili crisp over a buttery tart? Yes, please! It’s like candied nuts with a sass factor.
- Crushed Potato Chips
- The salt + crunch + unexpectedness?
- Ginger-Infused Whipped Cream
- Soft, fluffy, spicy lift
- Fold in grated fresh ginger or ground ginger or ginger juice with powdered sugar into whipped cream.
- Warm Spiked Maple Syrup
- A splash of bourbon, rum, or apple brandy into warm maple syrup.
