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
Rachel says
This cake is perfect. I was too lazy to make separate filling, so I just sprinkled in a nice heavy layer of cinnamon sugar. The kids won’t stop asking me to make it again!
Christi Campo says
Just made this for the second time – both times I put it in a 9 × 12 pan to even out the excess topping – this time I also added 1 1/4 cups of chopped cranberries to the filling – delicious!!
Amy says
I made this for a brunch. Made it the night before, tasted it and it was good. But the next day
at the brunch, it was AMAZING. I don’t know why but it greatly improved overnight. Huge hit. I followed the recipe exactly and will be making this again and again. Thank you!!!!
Kelly Smith says
Hello… Im just NOW find in this recipe. I’d truly love to make this in a mini muffin pan for our Christmas Cookie exchange at church for our elders. What would you suggest for baking time?
Thank you.
Kelly Smith 💗
Stacey says
I read somewhere that when measuring the flour you should use a scale or spoon flour into measuring cup, weight f the flour is likely making the cake more dense. I believe the weight is 128grams a cup when scooped it can get greater than 155 grams. I hope that was helpful.
Danielle says
I am not sure what the the haters are talking about!!
I made this following the recipe measure by measure,
It was AMAZING!! It was delicious, moist and not at all flour tasting!! Perhaps they didn’t measure properly or just have less then good cooking skills!
Jennifer says
This recipe is wonderful. It’s my go to coffee cake recipe! So delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Olivia says
I made this as written this weekend and it was amazing! I’ve made a few recipes with a crumble type layer between doughy layers and every time I struggle to spread the layer on top. The offset spatula suggestion is definitely helpful. And even though I fought with that top layer, it was worth it! My husband took a few pieces to work and I’ve gotten a couple requests for the recipe. I’m currently making it for the second time but I tried to bake it in two loaf pans, basically splitting the batter and filling in half to make two smaller cakes to gift. I guess we’ll see if my experiment works. Also, your responses to all the criticism and the downright rude comments amaze me – such grace! Much nicer than I would’ve been. Thanks for sharing a delicious recipe!
Christy says
This is now my favorite coffee cake recipe. I always thought I had to add sour cream to get a good one, but this recipe didn’t need it. Thank you for sharing it!
Alicia says
Just made this and it turned out perfectly!! The only thing I did differently was reduce the flour in the topping to 1/2 cup, but the rest was the same. The cake was perfectly moist and amazing!! Tastes just like my mom used to make. Pinning this one for sure
Margot says
Just came across your recipe, entertained myself by skimming through the comments (they *are* all over the place! And I think you handled yourself remarkably well!), and can’t wait to give this a try. I’m certain it’s going to be delicious as my family loves coffee cake.
I just want to add that the brand of the ingredients you use makes quite a difference in how the end product turns out and tastes. Salted butter is going to make a taste difference as will deal vs light brown sugar and nonfat vs whole milk. When I made my mother’s bread recipe I thought I was doing it a favor by using fresh milk but the taste my family liked (because my mother made it that way) was with powdered milk. When I started buying spices from a well known spice company it made everything I made taste brighter and more flavorful. If I make my chocolate chip cookie recipe at my mother’s house my family can taste the difference. My mother buys different brands of products than I do – it’s the only explanation.
Jacqueline says
Yes, there ARE a ton of comments! You are completely right on the brand of ingredients, and I’m surprised that thought never occurred to me. Hope it turned out well for you too. I do think there is a discrepancy between what coffee cake IS and what people THINK it is. The “cake” part seems to throw them off 🙂
Andrea Gradel says
I bake for our church hospitality committee so I’m always looking for new recipes. I wanted to make a coffee cake this past weekend because no one ever brings one. The comments concerned me but I decided to make one and see how it came out. I could always make something else if I had to. OMGosh, it was fabulous. I ended up making two. Everyone loved it and there were no leftovers. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Lenal says
To add the top layer of batter without the hassle of spreading, take a large empty coffee can, place gallon ziplock bag in can fold the zip part over the outside of can. fill can with the last half of batter, remove from can, zip top. Using a flat scraper (not metal) scrape all batter to one corner (do not push all the way into the corner. cut 1/2 inch of corner off then pipe onto bottom layer of crumbs, once all batter is piped, smooth out with edge of scraper previously used.
Sara C says
I am making this for a party for the next day, how should I store it overnight? And does it need to be reheated?
Looks and smells yummy! Can’t wait to try it! 😊
Jacqueline says
It doesn’t have to be reheated, but isn’t everything better warm from the oven? 🙂 Just cover it with Saran Wrap overnight after it cools.
Eric says
This looks very similar to the one my mother made years ago. It has been long lost, and I have been wanting it. thank you for posting…..Off to the kitchen
Rachel Cornell says
Well I tried this in a tea rooms in the UK where we live and immediately googled a recipe. Found yours! Slight tweaks I’ve made from reading all your comments, I’ve used 3 eggs rather than 1 in the batter because we prefer it slightly less dense, and I added extra milk as the batter was very thick. I took your advice and used 1/4 flour for the topping. I also added cocoa and coffee to the filling. I’ve got to bake it at least 15 mins longer as I just checked it and it’s still raw in the middle…but wow what a cake _ perfectly risen, beautiful…a showstopper! My family prefer it not overly sweet too.
Karen says
I made this coffee cake for my husband for Father’s Day & we all loved it! Didn’t change a thing & turned out moist & delicious!
KELSEY says
Ohhh girl, I made this coffee cake (exactly as your recipe stated) and it is amazing! I will be making a batt here to take to my Fourth of July potluck. Thank you!!
Janice Robinson says
I just made this except I didn’t make the topping. Reason being, recently I made blueberry muffins with a streusel topping. They came out great, but I had a TON of streusel topping left over. I had enough for about twenty muffins, but the rest of the recipe made only six muffins! So anyway, I was looking for a coffee cake recipe which would call for what I have on hand, and on which I could use the leftover streusel topping I had.
I hit upon this one, and it’s delicious! I can’t comment upon your topping since I didn’t make it, but the cake and filling are great. I will make it again using your topping.
jude says
perfect recipe. simple list of basic baking ingredients that were already in my kitchen.
it is beautiful to look at – i baked it in a 9″ springform, as another commenter mentioned,
and it tastes just divine. thank you, jacqueline!