Coffee Cake Recipe, served with Streusel

At a glance

What stands out: Rich with butter and sour cream, and topped with sweet cinnamon streusel, this classic coffee cake recipe is reliable with a steaming cup of coffee or tea. There’s a layer of streusel in the cake as well as on top of the cake!

How long it takes: 20 minutes to prep, 55 minutes in the oven
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowls, measuring utensils, electric mixer, cake pan, oven
Servings: 9

Wouldn’t you agree that a cup of coffee just cries out for a sweet treat to accompany it? Often that sweet treat for us is a cookie. Lately we've been loving these coffee cookies made with espresso powder and loaded with chocolate chips.

But what could be more reliable than coffee cake, especially from-scratch streusel coffee cake. Crunchy, crumbly, cinnamon sweet streusel just rings all the happy bells for us.

You’re going to love this classic coffee cake recipe. We have a feeling you’ll be coming back to it again and again. Just the other night, we made this coffee cake for our book group and they raved about it. You know what? We discovered that coffee cake is not only reliable with a cup of coffee or tea but it’s also rich with a glass of wine, too.

coffee cake Made From Scratch

Many coffee cake recipes start with a boxed mix but this coffee cake recipe is completely from-scratch. You probably have all the ingredients you need already in your pantry. While the ingredient list may look kind of long initially, you’ll notice the repetition of butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in each of the layers.

• moist buttery cake
• sweet cinnamon filling
• crunchy streusel topping

To make the cake: Butter, sugar, and eggs are beaten together until the mixture is nice and fluffy. The dry ingredients (flour, etc.) are added alternately with sour cream. The cake batter will be thick.

Add the filling: A simple mixture of sugar and cinnamon with a teaspoon of cocoa (for a rich brown color) is sprinkled onto the batter and baked right in the cake. Spread half the batter into a pan, sprinkle on the filling mixture, and spread the other half of the batter on top.

Recipe Tip

Whoops! You may have noticed in the photos that our streusel layer is kind of close to the bottom. Apparently we divided the batter unevenly. That’s just how it goes sometimes and it doesn’t affect the quality of the coffee cake one bit. Keeps us humble, right?

Sprinkle on streusel. The streusel is the “frosting” so this cake is ready to serve immediately – no need to frost it. That’s one of the reasons this coffee cake recipe is reliable for breakfast or brunch.

Enjoy this from-scratch streusel coffee cake for a special brunch, afternoon coffee time with the neighbors, or as the sweet ending to a home cooked dinner.

What is Streusel?

Streusel is a simple topping made of melted butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon that is baked right on the cake, creating a crumbly, crunchy, totally rich layer. If you love streusel, try rich from-scratch pumpkin streusel bread or banana streusel muffins.

What Is A Coffee Cake?

Maybe you’re wondering, does a coffee cake have coffee in it? Perhaps some thrifty cooks have used leftover coffee to make their cake but more often, sour cream is used, which gives the cake a rich flavor and light texture.

Really, any kind of sweet cake that you enjoy with a cup of coffee can be called a coffee cake. Usually a coffee cake has a streusel or crumb topping which takes the place of frosting so that the cake is ready to eat when it comes out of the oven. Often a coffee cake will also contain fruit, like this cranberry orange coffee cake or peach coffee cake.

Possible Recipe Variations

• Add nuts. Add a generous half cup of chopped walnuts or pecans to the streusel mixture before baking. Since our family has nut allergies, we have to skip the nuts but they are a great addition to this coffee cake recipe.
• Skip the filling if you want. This cake is rich even without the cinnamon filling.
• Don’t have sour cream? Substitute Greek yogurt or buttermilk for the sour cream.
• Fancy version: Make a simple powdered sugar glaze to drizzle over the coffee cake after baking.
• Add a topping. Top with whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream.

Keeping leftovers

Streusel coffee cake will keep 1 to 2 days at room temperature.

To freeze: Wrap the cake well, and freeze it for up to 3 months. Allow it to thaw about 90 minutes before using.

• Yield: 9
• Prep: 20 minutes
• Cook: 55 minutes
• Total: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the streusel:

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• ½ cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (optional, added for deeper color not flavor)

For the cake:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter ( 1 stick), softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×9 inch square pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. To make the streusel: In a small bowl, mix flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt until well combined. Add melted butter and mix well until crumbs form. Set aside.
3. To make the filling: In another small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
4. To make the cake: In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
5. In a mixer bowl, beat the softened butter on medium speed for one minute until creamy. Add sugar and beat 30 seconds. Add eggs, and beat 3 minutes or until batter is light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in vanilla extract.
6. With mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream in 2 additions (starting and ending with the flour). Do not overmix. Batter should be thick and fluffy.
7. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer. Sprinkle the filling mixture evenly over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter on top and smooth it into an even layer. Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly on top of the cake, gently patting down.
8. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. There may be crumbs but there shouldn’t be batter on toothpick. Place the cake in the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Serve warm, or at room temperature. If desired, serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes

Storage: Cake will keep 1 to 2 days at room temperature. To freeze, wrap well, and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw about 90 minutes before using.

Add nuts: If desired, add a heaping half cup of chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans to the streusel mixture before baking.