The VERY Best Coffee Cake Recipe ever is moist and buttery, with a cinnamon sugar layer in the middle topped with crumb topping and a sweet glaze icing. Perfect for breakfast or brunch with a hot cup of coffee!
Make sure to try my Sour Cream Pecan Coffee Cake too!
Is there anything better than cake for breakfast? Of course it’s not an indulgence I afford myself on the regular, but the day after my birthday is the best because I know there is leftover cake waiting for me to have with my cup of coffee…which leads me to today’s long overdue post…
The VERY Best Coffee Cake Recipe Ever EVER!
I’m not sure of the genius who coined the term coffee cake, but I would like to extend a firm handshake. Well done, sir or ma’am. Well. done.
I feel like I have crammed all the things that you would ever want in a coffee cake into my recipe. What you have is a dense, but moist, buttery cake with a layer of sweet cinnamon filling baked in the middle. The whole cake is topped with a buttery, cinnamon crumb topping and then drizzled with a sweet icing glaze. No cake mix is involved in this recipe, it is a from-scratch-baked-with-love kinda vibe, and you are going to LOVE it.
Looking for more Coffee-Cake Recipes? Try These:
What Makes This Coffee Cake The BEST?
Well, I am sure this could be up for debate. I know after almost 11 years here on the internet that it’s impossible to make all y’all happy. I’ve tried. But I will say, that I have eaten my fair share of cake since the inception of this website (and for years before that), so I think I can call myself an expert in cake eating.
And this coffee cake is the best I’ve ever had. Hands down.
The cake itself is a dense, yet still fluffy texture with a buttery, vanilla flavor. The whole cake has a thick layer of cinnamon sugar filling baked in the middle, which, with the addition of flour, stays thick and doesn’t melt into the cake, which is amazing.
And of course I ALWAYS prefer a crumb topping on my coffee cake, and this one has the perfect amount, without being too much!
How Do You Make Coffee Cake?
There are a few defining characteristics of a coffee cake:
- No Frosting – OR a light drizzle of an icing glaze. A lot of the time coffee cake is just dusted with powdered sugar, which you could absolutely do on this recipe!
- Cinnamon. Coffee Cakes are generally spiced with cinnamon. I don’t make the rules.
- Crumb Topping – This is not a must, but it’s very common. A lot of coffee cakes include nuts in the crumb topping as well, which you could do here if you like that! I’ll hit on that in a minute.
- Vanilla Cake – It’s very typical for a coffee cake base to be a vanilla cake as opposed to chocolate.
- A Single Layer Cake – Whether it be a 9×13, or a round cake, coffee cake is generally a single layer cake!
Are the Steps Easy?
Yes! You most likely have all the ingredients to make this cake in your kitchen now! There are a few steps, but they all come together with minimal effort.
- The cake is a butter/sour cream cake. The addition of sour cream makes it extra moist and the batter comes together very quickly and easily.
- The filling is simply a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and flour that you spread over half of the batter. Spread the remaining cake batter carefully overtop!
- The crumb topping is quick to prepare, using melted butter, which makes it very easy to mix!
I LOVE to enjoy this cake while its still warm, but it’s also delicious at room temperature!
PRO TIP: Make sure that once this cake is cut you cover it AIRTIGHT immediately, as it can dry out quickly. I like to use Press and Seal plastic wrap, and press it down directly over the cake, and then covering the entire pan again with foil!
STILL looking for more Coffee Cake Recipes? Here You Go!
- Banana Bread Crumb Cake
- Pumpkin Crumb Cake Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Coffee Cake
- Pumpkin Crumb Cake
The Best Coffee Cake Recipe Ever
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Prep Time: 20 minutes -
Cook Time: 45 minutes
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Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
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Yield: serves 12 1x -
Category: Cake
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Method: Oven
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Cuisine: Breakfast
Prep Time:
Yield:
Category:
Method:
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PinDescription:
Grab a cup of coffee and get ready for the best coffee cake ever! Soft vanilla cake with a sweet cinnamon layer inside, topped with buttery crumb topping!
Ingredients:
Cinnamon Filling
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Crumb Topping
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 cup all purpose flour
Cake
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 3 2/3 cup all purpose flour
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl prepare the cinnamon filling by whisking together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon until combined. Set aside.
- To prepare the crumb topping, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a medium bowl until it resembles coarse crumbs. Use your hands to mix to form larger crumb pieces. Set aside.
- For the cake, mix the butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, salt, and baking powder and mix for 1 minute until combined and smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour and milk in alternating portions, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until just combined and smooth, again, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Spread half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon filling evenly on top of the batter. Carefully spread the remaining cake batter on top of the cinnamon layer. Evenly sprinkle the crumb topping on top.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove cake from oven and place pan on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth and drizzle on top of the cooled cake. Or alternately sprinkle with powdered sugar instead of making the icing.
Notes:
Store airtight for up to 3 days
Keywords:: cookies and cups, coffee cake, crumb cake, cake recipe
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Hi! I’m Shelly and I’m an addict. Of the buttercream sort. I started this site a few years ago as a way to justify my sugary, buttery obsession with desserts. It has worked out well for me so far, because as it turns out you guys all love sugary, buttery desserts too! It feels good to know you're not alone, doesn’t it?
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Ok, I had to make substitutions because I ran out of flour and brown sugar so I used other stuff that I had instead and it still turned out fine. I would make this again.
This bottom layer of this cake did not rise at all. Followed recipe exactly. Never heard of not mixing bp and salt into the flour which should have sifted. Had to toss it OUT.
I just put this in the oven but I ran out of flour and a bit of brown sugar so I had to juggle it around a bit. I was 1 and 2/3 c. Short of flour and about 1/3 c. Short of brown sugar. Anyways, this cake was light and fluffy. It smells delicious so I hope it turns out. I just so happened to have a white cake mix handy so I used some to clear away the problem. I am going to enjoy my coffee with my coffee cake in the morning. Wish me luck.
3 x too much baking powder. Had to toss it.
What an utter failure. Came out dry and hard as a rock. The flour killed it. Worst recipe ever!
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I don’t think a 9×13 dish is big enough for this cake. It’s a dense cake. Absolutely delicious recipe but either bigger casserole dish necessary or split it between two square baking dishes. Mine was still coming out pretty raw after almost an hour. I don’t think after so many people running into the same issue that we all did something wrong, just think the recipe needs to be adjusted. I can’t for the life of me figure out what she baked hers in lol
★★★★
I made this a couple times and both times were so delicious! The next time I would love to try to bake these like cupcakes. Would the time and temperature need to be adjusted to do so?
★★★★★
Should’ve read the comments— does NOT cook in 40 minutes. Added the icing before realizing that, so a waste of time and ingredients.
Loved it. Remindsme of Drake’s coffee cakes I ate when I was a kid. I made a brown butter/ brown sugar crumb topping, added left-over heavy cream and omitted the icing. Loved how moist it was. I’m glad it was a sheet pan size, would have been hard to share if smaller thanks for sharing. Family, neighbor,boss loved it.
★★★★★
Ok, so earlier I commented that I tried baking on the convection setting instead of regular setting. It also cooked for an additional 20 minutes but I laid a piece of aluminum foil over top while it baked so it didn’t get burnt before it was done! I took a picture but can’t figure out how to post it… this was SO YUMMY! I followed the recipe exactly, other than the changes I mentioned above, and it came out GREAT! It’s a delicious cross between a donut and a cake and goes GREAT with coffee. All the things I love… Read more »
I was nervous about all the comments saying it wouldn’t bake through so I put it in on convection. The batter is SO light and fluffy and SO delicious. Can’t wait to get it out!!!
I made this recipe today and used a bundt pan to cook it. Turned out amazing! Soft vanilla cake with cinnamon and sugar bits. So good!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it!!
While the cake has good flavor, it’s not cakey at all. Very wet! Like a bread pudding!!
★★★
When you are 1 or 2 people you need to half many recipes on the Internet in order to make it. May I ask how you would cut 3 eggs in half. Would you go with one egg or two or actually try to cut an egg in half (after it’s whisked)?
★★★★★
I would just use two in this recipe 🙂
U can take of an egg by whisking it and then take half out of this whisked egg.
I loved this!!! so did everyone else. I did not tell them the calorie count. hahaha. I added coconut to the topping. Then my mom made it and use granola. Thanks, now my grown up kids ask for it when they visit.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed! Great idea adding coconut!