Classic Coffee Cake Recipe w/ Cinnamon Streusel
Just a darn near perfect classic coffee cake recipe with no bells and whistles! Moist, dense, velvety soft crumb with a beautiful cinnamon sugar streusel crumb topping that has hints of caramel flavor thanks to the salted butter and brown sugar. It’s heavenly!.
Watch me make this classic coffee cake from start to finish!
Remember when I told you guys I was taking a 2-year course in herbalism? Well, I finished that program early, and now I’m starting on the next 2-year course. I’m learning so much and decided to create a second website dedicated to my favorite natural remedies. (I’ll let you know when that’s up in case you like this type of stuff, too)
No worries, I’ll still be posting to Divas Can Cook, but part of my assignment is to create a materia medica and document all the successful recipes I try. Might as well share it as I go!
What does that have to do with coffee cake, you ask? Well, if you have my cookbook (which is on sale, by the way), you’ll be familiar with the story of how Divas Can Cook got started. With motivation, thanks to coffee and coffee cake!
At that time, I had a baby and a seamstress business. So, my only free time for anything extra without interruptions was between the hours of 4-6 am. This required extreme discipline. So I used coffee cake and lattes as my treat for getting up early to work on my website.
It worked, and now here we are.
Now I’m using this same approach to develop my herbal site. I have waaaay more responsibilities now than I did many years ago and already wake up at 4 am most days, so it actually hasn’t been too hard, but it’s still a struggle when that bed is feeling so warm and cozy.
Cake and coffee are powerful tools to get me moving. Find whatever motivates you to do what you need to do and run with it; yep, that’s my unsolicited New Years advice.
Ok, let’s talk about this coffee cake recipe!
My goodness y’all, I just love it! Sometimes you just want a basic bomb coffee cake, and this is it!
Have you ever made/had a coffee cake before?
If the only coffee cake you’ve ever tried was Starbucks coffee cake then you’ve got to give this recipe a go! Homemade coffee is so much better imo!
The first time I made a coffee cake recipe I was surprise to see, that it actually didn’t have coffee in it lol. (don’t judge me; I was young) It’s called coffee cake because it’s intended to be served with coffee for breakfast or brunch.
A classic coffee cake usually consists of a lightly sweetened vanilla-flavored cake with a cinnamon crumb streusel topping. If desired, a drizzle of vanilla glaze can be added to the top for extra sweetness.
Of course, you can find coffee cake recipes in all varieties. I’ve made several here on this blog including, blueberry coffee cake, pecan pie coffee cake and even cinnamon roll coffee cake!
What I love about this easy coffee cake recipe
- Perfect texture. I like for my coffee cakes to have a tighter, moist crumb. Not as dense as pound cake but somewhere between a regular cake and pound cake.
- Perfect sweetness. This coffee cake is sweet but not too sweet! Using salted butter in the streusel topping adds such a nice flavor! It kinda lends a salted caramel vibe. I prefer this without glaze but I’ll include a glaze recipe in case you want to add it.
- Tastes great for days! When it come to leftovers, coffee cake is the best! It tastes amazing for days! It will be your coffee companion all the way through the week if you can resist devouring it throughout the day. Ask me how I know.
- Beautiful. This cake cuts like a dream and would be perfect to sell in individualy squares or shipped.
How to make a classic coffee cake from scratch
INGREDIENTS
BATTER
- All-purpose flour
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- sugar
- butter-flavor shortening
- vegetable oil
- eggs +egg yolk, room temperature
- vanilla extract
- buttermilk
TOPPING
- All-purpose flour
- light brown sugar, packed
- cinnamon
- salted butter
- butter
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 325 F. and move rack to the middle. Grease and flour a 8×8 glass baking dish. Set aside.
- In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In another large bowl mix together shortening, oil, and sugar until combined using a hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Mix eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk into the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula just until combined,
- Pour batter into prepared pan and spread to an even layer. Set aside.
- To make the topping, in a large bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.
- Cut in softened butter until mixture resembles large crumbs.
- Sprinkle topping over the top of batter. (I like to reserve about 1/4 cup of the topping and sprinkle it along the edges halfway during baking to cover any bare spots that may have formed.)
- Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Let cool a bit before serving. Serve warm or room temperature
- If using a glaze, drizzle it on now or when it comes out of the oven. (glaze recipe in info box) Coffee cake is even better the next day!
How to make a vanilla cinnamon glaze
A vanilla cinnamon glaze tastes great on top of a classic coffee cake. Here is a simple recipe I like to use.
In a bowl, sift together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Gradually stir in about 5 teaspoons of milk until the mixture is silky and pourable. When the coffee comes out of the oven, drizzle or pour on the glaze or you can wait until the cake cools before adding the glaze. Allow the glaze to harden and serve!
Common questions:
Can you freeze coffee cake? Absolutely! Before freezing, be sure the coffee cake is cool completely. Wrap it tightly in couple layers of plastic wrap and then wrap it in aluminum foil. Place it in a air tight freezer container or large food storage freezer bag. This will prevent freezer burn. To eat, let the coffee cake thaw at room temperature for several hours.
Does coffee cake have to be refrigerated? No, you can store coffee cake in an airtight container on the counter. However, you can store in the refrigerator if preferred.
Do I have to use butter-flavored shortening in this coffee cake recipe? You can replace the shortening with butter, but note that the texture will be different.
How do I get a cinnamon swirl layer? Pour half the batter in the pan and then add a layer of equal parts cinnamon and sugar, top with the remaining batter.
Can I add sour cream or Greek yogurt? You can relace the buttermilk with sour cream if you are going for a sour cream coffee cake. Yogurt is also fine. The buttermilk lends a more tender, lighter crumb.
Can I add nuts? Yes, nuts like walnuts, almonds, or pecans can be mixed into the streusel topping for added flavor and crunch.
Get the Recipe: Classic Coffee Cake Recipe w/ Cinnamon Streusel
Ingredients
BATTER
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter-flavored shortening
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk
TOPPING
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ cup salted butter, softened and cut into pieces (do not melt), ( I use salted sweet cream butter)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. and move rack to the middle. Grease and flour a 8×8 glass baking dish. Set aside.
- In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.1½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
- In another large bowl cream together shortening, oil, and sugar until combined using a hand mixer or stand mixer.4 tablespoons butter-flavored shortening, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, ¾ cup granulated sugar
- Mix eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk into the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula just until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.¾ cup buttermilk
- Pour batter into prepared pan and spread to an even layer. Set aside.
Make The Topping
- To make the topping, in a large bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup light brown sugar, packed, 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
- Cut in softened butter using a pastry cutter until mixture resembles large crumbs.½ cup salted butter, softened and cut into pieces (do not melt)
- Sprinkle topping evenly over the top of batter. (I like to reserve about 1/4 cup of the topping and sprinkle it along the edges halfway during baking to cover up any bare spots that may have formed)
- Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Let cool a bit before slicing. Serve warm or room-temperature
- If using a glaze, drizzle, it on now or when it comes out of the oven. (glaze recipe in info box) Coffee cake is even better the next day!
How do you prevent the crumb topping from getting mushy on leftover cake that you need to cover? I have this problem with any recipe that requires crumbs on top and find it so frustrating because the cake is not half as good with mushy, soft crumbs. Thanks in advance for you help.
I made this recipe and it was divine. The texture! Monique’s cakes have the best texture. It’s firm, but soft and tender at the same time. I didn’t have salted butter so I added 1/2 teaspoon salt to the crumb topping. The topping is soft but crumbly, so good! Delicious with tea.
So flavorful and the cake is a perfect texture! Thank you for this coffee cake recipe.
I wanted to love this easy little coffee cake, but the weight of the topping caused the cake to ooze up and around the edges and middle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look anything like the beautiful cake you made.
Oh no! So sorry you didn’t have success with this cake. I’d love to help you figure it out. I’ve never had this happen with this particular recipe, but it has happened to me before. It turned out my oven wasn’t hot enough to cook the cake quick enough to support the topping. Are you cooking on the middle rack and did you also use shortening in the batter?