I’ve been doing a lot of armchair traveling, looking at old photos and travel journals and cooking and baking dishes that I first tried in far-flung locations. After revisiting several trips to Sweden, I started to crave coffee cake. This, in turn, prompted me to bake my brown sugar-almond coffee cake.

In Sweden the coffee break or fika means just that—you take a break to have a cup of coffee and a baked good. It could be a slice of tart, a cinnamon roll or chocolate ball. Or, it could be a piece of cake served with coffee. Hence the inspiration for “coffee cake.”

Often Swedish coffee cakes include almonds and such spices as cardamom, cinnamon and ginger. Among the traditional coffee cake offerings are almond tortes and apple, spice or pound cakes. American coffee cakes differ in that they frequently feature sour cream in their batters and streusel and a glaze on top. They tend to be sweeter than their Swedish counterparts. The sweet, aromatic and nutty Brown Sugar-Almond Coffee Cake is a nod to both the Swedish and American versions.

Brown Sugar-Almond Coffee Cake

If you have a 9-inch tube/angel food cake pan, use it for this recipe. If, like me, you can’t find your tube pan, use a Bundt pan instead. There will be a slight difference in how you put the batter in the pan but this difference is detailed in the recipe.

Serves 10 to 12

for the streusel:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup minced blanched almonds

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

for the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sour cream

for the glaze:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk

To make the streusel:

Place the flour, almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Pour in the melted butter and stir the ingredients together until you have a crumbly mixture. Set the bowl aside.

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9-inch tube or Bundt pan. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and then set aside.

Using an electric hand or stand mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds, scrape down the bowl and add the sugar. Beat the ingredients together for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract and beat again until blended.

After scraping down the sides of the bowl, add 1/3 of the flour and beat to combine. Scrape down the bowl, add half of the sour cream and beat to combine. Repeat these steps until all of the flour and sour cream has been incorporated.

If you’re using a Bundt pan, evenly spread 1/3 to 1/2 of the streusel on the bottom of the Bundt pan. Spoon half of the batter over the streusel. Place the remaining streusel over it and then spread the remaining batter on top of the streusel.

If you’re using a tube pan, you will spoon half of the batter into the tube pan. Top that with 1/2 to 2/3 of the streusel. Evenly distribute the remaining batter and then top it with the last portion of streusel.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until golden in color and a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven, place it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely before removing it from the pan. You will want the exposed streusel to be the top of the cake.

To make the glaze:

Whisk together the confectioner’s sugar and milk. Drizzle the glaze over the streusel. Serve at breakfast with coffee or as a dessert.