Cake for breakfast, anyone? My moist coffee cake recipe is a delightful way to start the day. With a perfectly tender crumb and addictive streusel topping — not to mention, loads of warm cinnamon flavor — coffee cake is a winner every time. All you need is a hot cup of coffee to serve with it, and you’re good to go!
One thing I love about this recipe for coffee cake is that it’s freezer-friendly. I always freeze slices of this delicious breakfast cake so that I have a sweet treat at the ready whenever we feel like it! For more cinnamon-filled breakfast recipes, try my cinnamon muffins recipe, homemade cinnamon swirl bread, and recipe for cinnamon rolls.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Sugar — for this recipe, you need 3 types of sugar: light brown sugar, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar (if you opt to make the vanilla glaze. You only need the first two otherwise.).
Cinnamon — this recipe would not be complete without a generous amount of cinnamon throughout. Cinnamon goes into the filling and the crisp crumb topping.
Butter — you need unsalted butter; cold for the crumb topping and softened for the cake batter.
Eggs — ensure the large eggs are at room temperature before you start baking.
Sour cream — yields a rich, moist cake with a tender crumb, and helps keep the cake moist for days after baking. You can use plain whole milk greek yogurt as a substitute.
Vanilla extract — use good vanilla extract, not vanilla essence (which is synthetically flavored).
Milk — I use whole milk to make a powdered sugar glaze, but you could also use 2% milk, water, or another flavored liquid like citrus zest, bourbon, or apple cider to add a little flavoring to the glaze.
How to Make Coffee Cake
1. Start by making the easy cinnamon filling. All you need to do is whisk together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Next, prepare the streusel topping in a separate bowl. Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add diced cold unsalted butter. Use clean fingers or a fork to press and crumble the butter into the dry mixture. Do this until the mixture is crumbly and resembles wet sand. If you like larger crumbles, squeeze a handful of the mixture together and break apart into large pieces. Set aside while you prepare the cake batter.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Set the flour mixture aside for the moment. Then, in a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes.
4. Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Scrape down the bowl, and then add room temperature sour cream and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the bowl again. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined. To finish off the batter, use a spatula to scrape the bowl down one last time to make sure everything is mixed in.
5. Lightly grease an 8×8-inch square baking dish and line with parchment paper. Spread half the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out with a spatula. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar filling on top, trying to create an even layer of filling on the batter. Dollop the remaining batter over the cinnamon filling, and then spread it out into an even layer by moving from the center to the edges.
6. Sprinkle the streusel on top of the cake batter, starting at the edges, and working in towards the center. This will ensure that there’s enough topping on the edges so the cake doesn’t rise unevenly. Bake in an oven heated to 350°F for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
7. While the cinnamon cake is in the oven, prepare the vanilla glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl until smooth.
8. Drizzle the glaze over the sour cream coffee cake before or after slicing. Serve and enjoy!
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Ingredient temperature matters for the best coffee cake! For the streusel topping, you need cold butter so you can form crumbles. For the cake batter, you need room temperature butter to whip up nice and fluffy, and room temp eggs and sour cream so they incorporate better into the butter.
- Be aware of the consistency of the cake batter. The batter may look thicker than you expect, and that’s normal! A thin batter will cause the cinnamon-sugar filling and streusel topping to sink into the batter and likely end up on the bottom of the pan.
- Line the baking dish with parchment paper. This makes removing the cake from the pan a breeze!
- Use my trick to spread the remaining batter over the cinnamon filling: This can be a little tricky. Spreading the batter from the center towards the edges and then making sure the batter touches the parchment paper is the easiest way. Try to avoid back-and-forth motions, as it can cause the batter to peel up and the cinnamon-sugar filling to get mixed into the batter. The cake will still bake up just fine if that happens; it will just have a less defined center stripe of filling.
- To help the cake rise more evenly: Because the streusel topping weighs the batter down a bit on top, it can rise unevenly or be enveloped by the rising batter if it isn’t sprinkled evenly. This tends to happen more on the edges since the batter rises there first during baking. I recommend starting along the edges when sprinkling on the topping to ensure there is enough crumb topping to cover them.
Frequently Asked Questions
No! Despite what its name suggests, this classic coffee cake doesn’t contain any coffee at all! It gets its name from the fact that it is typically served alongside coffee.
The most common reason for dried-out cake is using too much flour. The best way to accurately weigh flour is with a kitchen scale. If you don’t have one, fluff the flour up in its container and spoon it into a measuring cup. Don’t scoop with your measuring cup directly from the bag, as you will end up using too much flour.
Leftover cinnamon coffee cake keeps well in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days.
You can freeze it. I like freezing individual slices so I can grab only what I need from the freezer. To do this, allow the cake to cool completely and then slice. Wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap, and then a layer of aluminum foil. It will freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw it on the counter for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. I like warming it up for 10 to 20 seconds in the microwave once it’s completely thawed out.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this coffee cake recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
om you!
Coffee Cake
Video
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Filling:
- ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar (147g)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour (30g)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the Streusel Topping:
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour (90g)
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter diced (85g)
For the Cake:
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (210g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened (142g)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar (55g)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ⅔ cup sour cream room temperature (160g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Vanilla Glaze: (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar (120g)
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Filling:
- In a small bowl whisk together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Set aside.
For the Streusel Topping:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the diced butter. Use your clean fingers or the tines of a fork to press and crumble the butter into the dry mixture until the mixture is cumbly and resembles wet sand. For larger crumbles, squeeze a handful of the mixture together and break apart into large pieces. Set aside.
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 8×8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Scrape the bowl down then add the sour cream and vanilla and mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down the bowl.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat on low speed until just until combined, then use a spatula to scrape the bowl down and mix any stray bits in.
- Spread half the of cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth out. Sprinkle the Cinnamon Filling on top. Dollop the remaining batter over the cinnamon filling, then spread it out into an evenly layer by moving from the center to the edges. Sprinkle the struesel over the top, starting at the edges, and working in towards the center. (This helps keep make sure there’s enough topping on the edges to keep the cake from rising unevenly.
- Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes before serving.
For the Glaze:
- If making the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over the coffee cake before or after slicing.
Notes
- Ingredient temperature matters for the best coffee cake! For the streusel topping, you need cold butter so you can form crumbles. For the cake batter, you need room temperature butter to whip up nice and fluffy, and room temp eggs and sour cream so they incorporate better into the butter.
- Be aware of the consistency of the cake batter. The batter may look thicker than you expect, and that’s normal! A thin batter will cause the cinnamon-sugar filling and streusel topping to sink into the batter and likely end up on the bottom of the pan.
- Line the baking dish with parchment paper. This makes removing the cake from the pan a breeze!
- Use my trick to spread the remaining batter over the cinnamon filling: This can be a little tricky. Spreading the batter from the center towards the edges and then making sure the batter touches the parchment paper is the easiest way. Try to avoid back-and-forth motions, as it can cause the batter to peel up and the cinnamon-sugar filling to get mixed into the batter. The cake will still bake up just fine if that happens; it will just have a less defined center stripe of filling.
- To help the cake rise more evenly: Because the streusel topping weighs the batter down a bit on top, it can rise unevenly or be enveloped by the rising batter if it isn’t sprinkled evenly. This tends to happen more on the edges since the batter rises there first during baking. I recommend starting along the edges when sprinkling on the topping to ensure there is enough crumb topping to cover them.
