This scrumptious Sour Cream Coffee Cake has a ribbon of cinnamon streusel in the middle and even more of the cinnamon-sugar goodness on top! It’s a great recipe that is perfect for breakfast and brunch, or even as a simple dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
We really love coffee cake and in the spring we love this delicious Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake for brunch on the weekends. Don’t miss any of my other breakfast recipes like these supremely dippable Cinnamon French Toast Sticks, or this Cowboy Quiche or Green Chili Egg Casserole for a savory option.
Scrumptious Sour Cream Coffee Cake
This Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe has been carefully tested and perfected so you get perfect results every time! It’s way better than any dry coffee shop version that never has enough of the cinnamon streusel topping to satisfy. It’s so good that my husband has even been known to request it for his birthday cake!
Does coffee cake have coffee in it?
No, coffee cake doesn’t actually have any coffee in it. The name comes from the tradition of serving a slice of moist, tender cake with a cup of coffee. There is no actual coffee in the batter.
It’s one of those snacking-type cakes that you can serve for breakfast just as easily as a dessert. I’m more partial to eating it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side for dessert, but no matter when or how you enjoy it, this long-time bakery favorite is sure to please!
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe ingredients
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour in coffee cake and it belongs in both the cake batter and the streusel for a soft, crumble streusel.
- Sugar: Both granulated sugar and brown sugar are in the streusel for the best texture and flavor, although only granulated sugar is used in the cake batter.
- Butter: I almost always use salted butter in my recipes.
- Eggs: Four of them, for binding and richness.
- Sour cream: I tested this recipe with full-fat sour cream, but I feel really confident that you could use Greek yogurt or even reduced fat sour cream and it would still turn out really well.
- Baking powder: For leavening – this is what makes the cake lift and rise.
- Baking soda: This also does the job of providing lift so the cake is light, but it also makes the cake tender.
- Salt: You really can’t bake without salt or your cake will taste bland.
- Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is added to the streusel for that classic coffee cake flavor.
- Vanilla: To flavor the cake batter and tie everything together.
How to make Sour Cream Cinnamon Coffee Cake
- Make the streusel. You can do this by hand or using a mixer. Whisk together the topping ingredients of all-purpose flour, brown and white sugars, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl, then stir in melted butter until it all clumps together. Leave it lumpy since the larger clumps give an interesting texture to your streusel. You may even want to squeeze a few handfuls of streusel together to get it to clump more!
- Mix the batter. Beat room temperature butter with granulated sugar until light and creamy, then add in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla, mixing well until it is all combined. Add the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt), stirring just until combined.
- Layer batter and streusel in a baking pan. Spread about half of the cake batter in the bottom of a 9×13″ baking pan that has been prepped with baking spray. Then sprinkle half of the cinnamon-streusel over the batter. Dollop the remaining batter on top of the streusel and carefully nudge it around to cover the middle streusel layer. It’s a thick batter and will rise while it cooks, so don’t be overly worried if coverage isn’t perfect. Then sprinkle the remaining streusel on top to finish it off!
- Bake for 50-55 minutes in a 350 degree F oven. You can tell that the coffee cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with only a few crumbs. If the streusel looks like it is browning too much on top, cover the pan with a piece of aluminum foil partway through baking.
Recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake FAQs
Baking times can vary with different ovens, so it’s possible the cake was left in the oven for too long. Even a few extra minutes can make a cake dry. Another common cause can be inaccurate measuring and adding too much flour. Overmixing the batter can also be an issue because it can develop too much gluten, resulting in a tougher, drier texture.
Sour cream helps keep the cake moist throughout the baking process and contributes to a tender and soft texture. The acidity in sour cream also tenderizes the gluten in the flour, resulting in a more delicate crumb and a softer cake.
Yes! Sour cream adds a subtle tanginess and depth of flavor to the cake, making it taste even better. It also adds additional richness and helps keep the coffee cake tender and moist.
More breakfast treats you’ll enjoy
- Macadamia Nut Sticky Buns
- Coconut Lime Glazed Banana Bread
- Raspberry Streusel Topped Muffins
- Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
- Easy Blackberry Turnovers
- Chocolate Crepes
- German Apple Pancakes
- Blackberry Scones
- Guava Cream Cheese Cuban Pastries
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe with Cinnamon
Ingredients
Streusel
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (313g)
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar (250g)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 cup salted butter melted
Cake
- 3/4 cup salted butter softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (250g)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 large large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (313g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch pan with baking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and cinnamon for the streusel. Add the melted butter and stir until it clumps together like sand.
- In a separate large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until creamy and light, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the side of the bowl and mix in the sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing just until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Spread ½ of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the streusel, then dollop the remaining cake batter over this, using a knife to nudge the batter together to form a top layer as much as possible. Sprinkle the remaining streusel over the top layer of batter.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean with just a few crumbs. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe first appeared on Yellow Bliss Road where I’m a contributor.
As I sit here this morning looking at food blogs and sipping on my coffee, I wish I had a cake to go with it. This looks really good and great job on the pictures.
Made this recipe today. Only difference was unsalted butter, but I added extra salt to make up for it. The texture was good: moist cake, lightly crunchy crust, solid streusel. But overall, this was a pretty bland recipe. I might suggest adding a little more sugar and some cinnamon to the cake, and decreasing the amount of flour in the streusel.
I tried out a cake with the above recipe. The cake was very soft and tasty. Thank you.
Going to try this using GF flour. Should be good!
The taste was great but mine was quite dry unfortunately
Try baking it for a few minutes less next time. Usually the problem when a cake is dry tends to be that it was overbaked just a bit.
It came out delicious! Thank u ! I think I made few mistakes but still but still delicious.
Can I bake in tube pan rather than 9 x13 pan?
Yes you can! Just follow the same directions and make sure you grease the pan well so it comes out easily. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. The baking time might vary a little bit, anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
I made this coffee cake for New Year’s and boy I am happy I did. It tastes exactly as I imagined it will. At first I thought it will be too sweet with all the amount of sugar in it but no. It’s perfect,not too sweet,not too cinnamony and buttery rich. My forever go to cinnamon strudel coffee cake. Thank you Amy and happy New Year🍾
Ooh this is a good cake. I am so glad you made it! Thank you so much for the nice comment! And Happy New Year to you!
Overall very bland & was a bit dry. Easy recipe, but nothing special.
This is the second Time I’ve made this coffee cake. The first was for an elderly facility, where I four times the recipe for the first time ever trying the recipe it got rave reviews, and there was not a crumb left amongst the two pans that were baked. The dough was very firm and hard to spread and the crumb mixture was more than the two hotel pans needed, but that was okay. 😉
Today I changed it up by doubling the dough w/ Gluten Free flour and only making a single recipe of the crumb. It was PERFECT! I also used maple flavoring instead of vanilla. When it came out of the oven I let it sit for 20 minutes and drizzled some maple glaze over the top. Can’t wait to dig into it. It rose beautifully and smells amazing. Wish I could leave a picture of it here for everyone!!! Thanks!! This is a keeper☺️
Sounds like you made it perfect! the maple glaze sounds delicious. Good job!