Cinnamon Coffee Cake

5 from 2 votes

Nov 06, 2019, Updated Jun 26, 2024

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Cinnamon Coffee Cake with streusel topping recipe – made from scratch, moist, soft, buttery and simple to make, topped with a sweet glaze. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, for parties and potlucks.

A slice of cinnamon coffee cake on a white plate

This is one of my favorite homemade coffee desserts, much better than store bought or the one popular coffee shops (Panera, Starbucks) offer. This cinnamon roll coffee cake is perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert.

Soft and sweet cake with a cinnamon crumb layer in the middle, that looks like a swirl, once you cut into squares and a flavorful, buttery Streusel topping. Adding a drizzle of sweet glaze is optional, but highly recommended.

This is a basic cinnamon coffee cake recipe and similar concept and ingredients are used for zucchini cinnamon crumb cake, lemon and apple cinnamon coffee cake.

What ingredients do you need to make this cinnamon streusel coffee cake?

Cinnamon coffee cake on parchment paper cut into squares

This homemade cinnamon coffee cake is made without sour cream, but I did use milk and lemon juice, which perfectly worked as a substitution for buttermilk.

This recipe calls has 3 components:

Yellow cake, dense but soft, made with buttermilk, “filling”, made with sugar, flour, cinnamon and softened butter, rich in cinnamon flavor and “streusel topping”, made with cold butter, brown or regular sugar (either one is fine), flour and a little bit of cinnamon (optional).

butter
sugar
brown sugar
eggs
vanilla
flour
salt
baking powder
milk
lemon juice
cinnamon

If you decide to add a sweet glaze, that I have not included in the recipe, because it adds up to the total calorie count, use 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 tbsp heavy cream or milk. Whisk until it is still thick, but you are able to drizzle it over the cake.

Cinnamon coffee cake cut into squares drizzled with glaze

How to make this cinnamon coffee cake recipe?

I suggest that you measure your ingredients in advance for each of the cake components, to speed up the process.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9×9-inch or 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
Beat together the butter and sugar with a mixer for 3 minutes, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth (for 1-2 minutes).
Add in half of the dry ingredients, then mix to combine. Next add the milk mixed with lemon juice and beat until incorporated. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
In a bowl combine the ingredients for the filling. We need softened butter for it. Press with your fingers to form soft crumbs.
For the Streusel topping: Make sure the butter is cold. Place ingredients in a food processor and pulse 5-6 times, until crumbs are formed.
Spread 1/2 of the cake batter on the bottom of the baking dish. Add the filling in a n even layer on top. Spread the remaining batter. Top with the Streussel. The topping might seem a little too much, so keep in mind that you can leave some out.
Bake for 45 minutes (between 40 and 50, depending on the oven), until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool to room temperature and cut into squares.

Cinnamon coffee cake with crumb topping and swirl

Is Coffee Cake Different From Crumb Cake?

Coffee cake refers to any cake that could be served with coffee (tea). They could be made with yeast, baking powder or baking soda. This is a wide term, while crumb cake is more specific.

Crumb cakes are usually cakes with crumb toppings (like streusel) and fillings. Crumb toppings are made with sugar, butter and flout most of the time.

How do you tell when your coffee cake is done?

Coffee cakes often take longer time to bake, even if they appear done. I usually bake mine for 5-10 minutes extra, once they show to be done.

There are a few indicators that your cake or coffee cake is done baking. They are:

Toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean
When pressed on the top, the cake springs back when pressed
If baking in a bundt ban, allow longer baking time and use a longer wooden skewer, not a toothpick to test doneness.
The edges of the baked cake should be starting to brown and pull away from the sides of the pan.
Cool the coffee cake completely, before cutting.

Can you Bake this cinnamon coffee crumb cake in a bundt pan?

This easy and fluffy cinnamon coffee cake can be baked in a bundt pan, but the streusel topping will be on the bottom. Bake for additional 5-10 minutes, if the cane is not done. when you test it.

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