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!
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
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
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Yield: serves 12 1x -
Category: Cake -
Method: Oven -
Cuisine: Breakfast
Description:
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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Help. I have a go to crumb cake that i have been using for years, but this looked yummy and needed one for tomorrow, So i decided it give it a try. but I need your help. I bought fresh ingredients and followed the recipe to the T. and when i got to the CAKE portion and under step 2 when I added the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, salt , baking powder & mixed them for “1 minute until combined and smooth ” as the recipe says. However, mine NEVER became smooth, it curdled. do you have any ideas what could of happened ? I never experienced that before while baking . Thank you.
That’s very strange, I have never had that happen. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed in smoothly and I would continue on and add in the flour and milk and mix it together. I imagine it will still come together perfectly!
Hi, the recipe says to cook 40 to 45 minutes at 350. My internal temperature gauge said 350. I baked it in a 9×13 pan and it took 65 minutes. No in high altitude just good old California altitude on a 95 degree day.
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Oven temps and bake times can certainly vary. Hope you enjoyed it!!
Toni A, were your ingredients cold (sour cream , milk eggs?)
Could this cake be baked as a bundt cake ?
I made this cake for a brunch on Sunday. The cake had a very delicious flavor but the cake itself was on the dry side.?? I followed the recipe exactly but my cake took about 10 additional minutes to bake.
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