This Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe is moist, buttery, and full of cinnamon flavor. It’s perfect as an afternoon snack, a breakfast pastry or an after dinner dessert!
A homemade cinnamon coffee cake recipe doesn’t get much better than this Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Streusel Crumb Topping!
While I am generally happy to share every recipe that I post, there are some that I am REALLY excited to share- and this is one of them. I’m not a huge breakfast eater, but one thing that I can never resist is coffee cake. Take a look at Coffee Works website where you can learn more ideas of how to enjoy even more your daily coffee.
This is also why I rarely ever buy or make it- I can’t stay out of it.
I love the general idea behind a coffee cake recipe. Someone clearly really wanted to eat some sort of spice or fruit laden cake at 7 AM, but could still hear their mother’s voice wheedling at them, “You don’t eat cake for breakfast!”
“Hush Mom, this is COFFEE cake. Its totally different. You eat it in the morning with coffee! It’s breakfast! Its practically health food.”
I’m not going to sit here and lie to anyone and tell you that this moist coffee cake is health food. It is most definitely not. I WILL tell you that this is the best cinnamon coffee cake and came out exactly the way that I had hoped. It has a light, buttery crumb, but yet is still somehow just a little dense.
There is a ribbon of cinnamon filling through the middle and it is piled with a cinnamon streusel on top. It DOES go perfectly with coffee… and ice cream too. Don’t worry- I won’t tell Mom.
What is Coffee Cake, exactly?
Coffee cake is a butter-based cake that, contrary to what the name implies, does NOT contain coffee. Its somewhere between a regular cake and a pound cake in terms of weight and texture. It’s not supposed to be over-the-top sweet, and is meant to be paired with a cup of coffee- hence the name!
What you’ll need for this breakfast coffee cake recipe:
- Hand mixer – Having a hand mixer really comes in handy for making your recipes. Be sure to grab this [easyazon_link identifier=”B001CH0ZLE” locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]Hand Mixer[/easyazon_link] to get your recipes made right!
- Mixing bowl – These bowls are perfect for mixing up any recipe and even come in three different sizes. Get your [easyazon_link identifier=”B00LGLHUA0″ locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]3-Piece Glass Mixing Bowl Set[/easyazon_link] here.
- Food processor – I recommend using a food processor to make your toppings required in this recipe. This [easyazon_link identifier=”B00755KNCS” locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]Food Processor[/easyazon_link] should do the trick and even has dishwasher safe parts!
- Baking pan – This [easyazon_link identifier=”B001PKUXN8″ locale=”US” tag=”gogogogo03-20″]9 by 9 Inch Covered Pan[/easyazon_link] is great for any kind of baking. You’ll get some great use out of it!
If you Like This homemade Cinnamon Coffee Cake recipe, you’ll also like easy dessert recipes:
NOTE: after multiple readers telling me that they find the topping to be too heavy on the flour, I am amending the topping to reduce the flour by 1/4 cup and increasing the butter by one tablespoon.
Update (5/6/2016): Alright. As I keep getting comments that say that the batter is too thick and the cake is too dry and the topping has too much flour and its too sweet (and yet simultaneously not sweet enough!), I decided to remake this and test the recipe for the third time. It came out just like it did the first and second times I made it.
This recipe is based off my Blueberry Buckle with Streusel Topping, which is always a major success and I have never faced any complaints. The only thing that I changed was using softened butter in the topping, rather than cold butter, which I have now amended in the recipe ingredients. I’m sitting here and eating a piece of it and wondering why anyone would want this either more or less sweet.
I don’t think its dry in any way- in fact the cake is quite moist. Its a butter based cake batter, so its not going to be runny like a boxed cake mix would be. As I state in the instructions, using an offset spatula makes spreading the batter over the filling much easier. I also took pictures at each step, so you can see what everything should look like along the way. These are below the instructions.
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Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 stick butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 3/4 cup milk
Filling
- 3 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Topping
- 5 tablespoon butter softened
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, scraping down the sides occasionally. Add the vanilla and egg, mix in.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add one half of it to the mixer, and when mostly combined, add the milk. Once the milk is mostly incorporated, add the rest of the flour.
- To make filling: in a small bowl, pinch together the softened butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon until soft crumbs form.
- To make topping: add the butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until coarse crumbs form (You can cut in with forks or a pastry cutter, but I am not patient enough for that!).
- Grease a 9x9 baking pan. Pour in ½ of cake batter, and spread to all four corners. Sprinkle the filling over top, then pour in remaining cake batter, and spread carefully across the top, disturbing the filling layer as little as possible (an offset spatula works well for this).
- Sprinkle the topping over the top and press lightly so it adheres.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool to warm on wire rack before serving.
Notes
Catie says
If you were to pour this into a bundt pan, what temperature/time length would you use?
Jacqueline says
I would still bake it at 350, but I don’t have a good frame of reference for the time. You’ll just have to watch it after probably 30 minutes and check it until it’s done. I bet it will be awesome in a Bundt pan! Let me know how long you end up making it for, I may try it that way next time!
plasterer bristol says
oh wow this sounds and looks so good. My absolute favorite recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Simon
Skyla says
I am so grateful for this recipe. My mom made coffee cake all of the time when I was a kid, and I’ve always wanted to learn how so…I made this today. I’m glad I happened to stumble across this exact recipe, because it was easy to make, tasted like my mom’s, and turned out wonderfully. Absolutely delicious! Thank you so much!
Lisa says
I made this tonight. Was a little curious about how it would turn out based on other’s comments but I followed the recipe to the T. I thought it turned out excellent. Very moist and perfect sweetness for my tastes. Would definitely make again
Lisa Cousineau says
Jacqueline,
I just made this cake. It was delicious, turned out perfectly. I am definitely going to make it again.
I did use less flour in the topping and made 1 and a half times the recipe and baked it in a 10 x 10 inch pan.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh yes I also split the milk with half milk and half Greek Yogurt. It was quite thick so I used more milk, just not sure how much.
Again thanks for sharing,
Recipes are always made to be changed by the person making them, to personalize taste etc.,
Nicole says
I just wanted to pop in and say that I made this tonight and it came out absolutely perfect! I followed the directions to a tee! Will definitely be making this again!!
Sasha says
I had chosen to make this recipe for a visit to my in laws, after reading the reviews I became hesitant, but decided to try it out- keeping in mind the flour for the crummble. I made the recipe exactly how it was published, step by step. The only thing I did was cut out 1/4 cup of flour from the crumble. I must say, the coffee cake came out amazing. I’m not sure why anyone would complain about the cake being too dry.. it is a good coffee cake. Delicious. Just the way a coffee cake should taste. Recipe is definitely a keeper! My family enjoyed it! And hopefully the in laws will tomorrow as well! Thank you!
Jamie Wiebe says
I was so excited to try this but was disappointed. I found it had too much cinnamon and the batter was really hard to work with, more like dough. It did turn out nice and moist so maybe I’ll tweak it and try it again. Thanks for the recipe ?
Jacqueline says
Hi Jamie, yes the dough is thick but the cake turns out soft and moist. Try using an offset spatula- it really does make a difference!
Sandra says
I just put this in the oven. The things I keep thinking are… “I should have added more milk to the batter, because it was more like dumpling dough than batter”. Also, I keep thinking “that’s a lot of butter and sugar!”. I had to press the dough into the pan, and then put the filling and then press the rest of the batter in… I’m waiting to see how it turns out. Also, I only used an 8×8 pan, but I will cook it a bit longer… Shouldn’t make a huge difference.
Jacqueline says
Keep the faith- it will turn out just like it is supposed to. Like I say in the post, the batter is quite thick, and an offset spatula really makes a difference. And yes- its a lot of butter and sugar- but what good cake isn’t??
Penny Chasse says
I made this and brought it to work yesterday for a carry in. Everyone absolutely loved it and I must say that it’s the best coffee cake I have ever eaten! I changed nothing.
Jacqueline says
Thank you so much for this- I really needed it! The next comment in my box is one being super snarky about the recipe, so it was so nice to read yours. Thank you for being so sweet!
Aranzazu Hurst says
Jacqueline, I just made the cake and it is delicious. I added some extra milk to have an extra moist consistency. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Heather says
I followed the recipe and my coffee cake turned out perfect today!!! My family loved it as well! I did have to cook it about 5 minutes longer but I live in a higher elevation! Thanks for the recipe!
Trish says
I made this cake following your recipe exactly and it turned out perfect! My 5 year old daughter said, “Mama, this is the best cake EVER!!!” I will definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing!
Jacqueline says
Awww wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing that with me 🙂
Diane says
I was curious if I use all purpose flour do I need to add the baking powder?
Jacqueline says
Yes, I only use AP flour ?
Ashley says
This is NO KIDDING the best! I sincerely appreciate all of you folks who test drove the recipe because the finished product is stufrakingpendous. Major fluffy, perfect level of sweet, crumbles crumbly. Bravo!
Dee Anna says
Made this tonight. Loved it!
Will use this recipe again.
Thank you!!
B says
Thus was delicious! I added a little cream cheese to the batter as I was afraid it may be dry. I think it would’ve been fine without but it added flavor. Followed the recipe exactly otherwise and my family loved it. I can’t believe anyone found it not sweet enough! Definitely can’t please everyone.
Kristen says
I made this for the first time and it’s delicious! I had to cook it for about 10 minutes longer to get it to fully cook. It is a little dry though, I thought about adding some oil and water to the mix next time. I pop mine in the microwave for 15 seconds in the morning! YUM!! Thanks!!
Sarah says
Despite all the negative comments I still went ahead and made this for a Christmas Eve get-together. Followed the directions exactly as given and it came out FANTASTIC! I’m from the US am living abroad in a tropical climate and it just hasn’t felt like Christmas to me but making this cake really made it “taste like home” if that makes sense. Thanks for the recipe! Merry Christmas!
Sarah says
This recipe is delicious! Despite some of the negative comments I decided to give it a try for a Christmas Eve get-together. I’m from the US but am currently living overseas in a tropical area. Needless to say it has not felt like Christmas but this coffee cake was a familiar and comforting treat for me! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Mary says
I made this today and it was wonderful. Not dry or too sweet as some have said. Great treat on a cold snowy day.