Step 1

Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Editor’s Tip: Cream the butter and sugar together on high for five to seven minutes. I know, that seems like an excessively long time, but your coffee cake will be so much lighter and tender for it. Trust me! Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Add some of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream to the creamed mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Editor’s Tip: When combining the flour and creamed mixtures, take a moment to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.

Step 2

With a rubber spatula, fold in the apples until they’re evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

Step 3

Scrape the coffee cake batter into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Spread the batter evenly to all four corners and edges.

Step 4

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, pecans, softened butter and apple pie spice. Scatter the topping evenly all over the batter.

Step 5

Bake the apple sour cream coffee cake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes. Let the coffee cake cool at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, and serve while it’s still warm. Editor’s Tip: It may be tempting to bake the coffee cake until a toothpick inserted comes out completely clean, but that means you’re baking out a lot of moisture. The coffee cake will continue to cook for a little while longer after it’s pulled out of the oven, so don’t overbake it!