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
John says
Batter didn’t pour at all – batter more like paste – waiting to see what happens in oven. Looks good but not betting the ranch – my guess is more like pizza cake
Jennifer Mattes says
Made a small change to simplify this recipe.
I made filling /topping together and cut the flour by 1/4 cup.
1 stick butter, soft
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
Otherwise, absolutely delicious as written.
Second time, made this into 18 muffins. Grease tins well and there’s no need for papers.
Lacie says
As I sit here, eating a slice of this cake and drinking a coffee, I can TOTALLY see logic to some of these replies. Not gunna lie, as a complete novice at baking this cake was a train wreck to make. At one point my eggs looked separated, the layering was a total disaster, the texture of all three stages just looked terrible. That said, this is hands down THE best coffee cake I’ve ever eaten. It’s worth the anxiety attack I had whilst making it. It’s dense but super moist, sweet but not too sweet, everything a coffee cake should be and more. I live in England (American but moved here as a child) so had to sit and convert the entire recipe to grams before I started, which I think made a massive difference and was totally worth the effort. If it’s in grams then you know there’s no room for error on the measurements side of things as I find cups can vary depending on if you scoop, pour etc. Haters gonna hate and all that, but this cake is totally worth the faff. I will 100% be making this again, and again, and probably again again! Thanks for the great recipe!
Melissa says
This is addictive and totally worth it! Thank you for a fantastic go-to coffee cake!
Jamie says
This recipe is perfect!! It was a hit with my boyfriend, family, & co-workers. I felt guilty taking all of the praise because it’s your recipe haha so I’d love to pass on the praise to you! My mom has used the same recipe for 30 years and now likes yours better. She already made one of these cakes. Love it!!!
Billi Jean says
Hi, Just wanted to mention, if no one else has, that flour brand is sometimes why a cake might come out heavier, or drier. Flour is refined differently by brand, and in Europe they even put how fine it was ground on the bag — as in it’s 00 fine, or 01. Either way, homemade cakes are not as ‘perfect’ as a box, but wow do they taste better!!
The recipe is wonderful. The cake was perfect to us. We didn’t change a thing! When my batter seemed too heavy, I simply spread it carefully. Next time I’ll buy a less fine ground flour — I’m sure that’s it. But it baked wonderfully and my daughter and I both thought it a good balance with the sweet. And better, my house smelled so good, my neighbor’s asked what I’d made! lol
Thank you!!! Keep on baking and being brave! 🙂
S.Finnegan says
I made this today for the first time and I’m in live. I did however adjust a few things, I was looking for a recipe that closely resembles those coffee crumb cakes, I think it’s little Debbie brand, but I wanted to add Apple’s to it. Well this recipe is spot on to those little processed cakes, and adding the apples and a small bit of fresh nutmeg ( I thought I ruined it adding too much apple) to the filling portion it came out perfectly!! It’s as if someone split one of those cakes and spread apple pie filling. This is a new favorite for sure!!!
Andrea C says
I wanted to make your recipe, it looks amazing. I needed to print it in order to have it convenient with me in the kitchen, but no matter how many times and ways I try to print it, your social media tags print on the left side of the page BLOCKING THE AMOUNT OF INGREDIENTS!!! Soooo frustrating.
I ended up not even making it because of this. Would love to try it myself and share with others, but cannot when this is happening. Please fix! 🙂
Thanks,
Andi
Christine says
If you click the “print” button (green, at the top of the recipe) the ads don’t show 🙂 I just did it myself.
Steffi says
Hi there, have you used this recipe in a Bundt pan?
Excited to try this!
Jacqueline says
I have not, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t work 🙂
Susan Kurtz says
This sounds super easy to make. I won’t be using a food processor because I’m a bit old-fashioned so I’ll use a fork. I was wondering if there was a recipe for a muffin. A biiiig muffin with cinnamon streusel? Yummm! I will make this tomorrow for a New Years Day goody!
Althea in Wyoming says
I live at high altitude (4500 ft). I made NO adjustments to the ingredients or to the baking temp or baking time.
This was a BIG HIT!!! Delicious, moist and everything you would want in a coffee cake.
Thanks Jacqueline for a teriffic recipe.
Diane says
All I have to say is that this recipe is excellent! Definitely worth making. The filling really makes it special.
Rita says
Your recipe when clicking on gogogogourment does not say unslated butter.
Rita says
Your recipe when clicking on gogogogourment does not say unslated butter. 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
Jacqueline says
I dont use unsalted butter.
Melanie Schuster says
This is the loveliest, tastiest cake ever! And it’s forgiving, too–I forgot the egg and it turned out just fine. It’s even more moist and delicious the next day.
Susan says
I was just craving some cinnamon goodness and found this recipe. I made it as stated and it was amazing. The cake portion was moist and the layers of cinnamon were delicious! It is true that the cake batter is difficult to spread but just work with it. Excellent recipe!
Meghan says
Any idea on calories in this?
Laura Francis says
My husband commented that this was the best cinnamon coffee cake he has ever tasted. There is ample cinnamon crumb filling and topping, which makes this recipe a stand out. I was choosing between this recipe and another one that included a sour cream cake. I selected this one. But after reading about and seeing the density of the cake batter, I added 2/3 a cup of fat free plain greek yogurt. It lightened up the batter and made the cake super moist. I did need to bake the recipe around 20 minutes longer for the middle to set, although my oven does tend to run below the set temperature; more like 325 degrees based on my thermometer reading. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Elizabeth says
This was incredible! Definitely a keeper.
Kim says
This recipe is scrumptious!!! Thank you for sharing!