Coffee Cake Recipe With Cinnamon Streusel (9x13)

The short answer: this coffee cake recipe is a sour cream butter cake with a cinnamon sugar swirl in the middle and a thick brown sugar streusel on top. Bake it in a 9x13 pan at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes. It makes 15 squares.

• Key numbers: 2 1/2 cups flour in the cake · 1 cup sour cream · 2 eggs · 1 1/2 cups flour in the streusel · 9x13 pan
• Top moves: thick batter, chilled streusel, scatter crumbs lightly, test the center with a toothpick
• Next step: get the free recipe book starter pages (we email it to you), or save your version in the Family Recipe Binder ($6.99)

Prep time: 35 minCook time: 45 minTotal time: 1 hr 50 minServings: 15 squaresTotal includes 30 min of resting, chilling or rising.

A good coffee cake is tender and moist in the middle with crisp, buttery crumbs on top and a ribbon of cinnamon running through. Sour cream gives the batter its tang and keeps it soft for days. There is no coffee in the cake. The name comes from serving it with coffee.

Coffee cake ingredients

Makes one 9x13-inch cake, about 15 squares.

Optional glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

How to make coffee cake

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch metal pan, or line it with parchment with an overhang so you can lift the cake out.
2. Make the streusel. Stir the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix with a fork until it forms damp clumps. Squeeze some into larger pieces. Refrigerate it while you make the batter.
3. Mix the swirl. Stir the 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon together in a small bowl.
4. Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
5. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar with a mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
6. Combine. Beat in the sour cream. Add half the flour mixture on low speed, then the milk, then the rest of the flour. Mix only until no dry streaks remain. The batter will be thick.
7. Layer. Spread half the batter in the pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon swirl evenly over it. Drop the rest of the batter in spoonfuls on top and gently spread it to the edges. Scatter the cold streusel over the top without pressing it in.
8. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out with no wet batter and the middle springs back. Cool in the pan at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with glaze, if using, once the cake is warm rather than hot.

The batter contains raw flour and raw eggs, so skip licking the beaters. The FDA says flour is a raw food, to never eat or taste raw flour, dough or batter, and that cooking is the only way to be sure foods made with flour and raw eggs are safe.

Pan sizes and bake times

Oven temperatures vary, so treat any time as a starting point and check the center with a toothpick. If the top browns before the middle sets, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the pan for the last 10 minutes.

Variations

• Crumb cake style: make 1 1/2 times the streusel and pile it on. Bake on the longer end of the time range.
• Blueberry coffee cake: fold 1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries (unthawed) into the batter. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of flour first. Add 5 to 10 minutes to the bake. For a grab-and-go version, see our blueberry muffins.
• Apple cinnamon: scatter 2 cups of peeled, finely diced apple over the cinnamon swirl layer.
• Pecan streusel: stir 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts into the streusel.
• Yogurt instead of sour cream: use plain full-fat Greek yogurt, cup for cup.
• Banana: swap 1/2 cup of the sour cream for 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana. For the full loaf, see our banana bread recipe.
• Fall spice: replace the swirl cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice. If you want pumpkin in the batter itself, pumpkin bread is a better fit than adding puree here.

Troubleshooting

The streusel sank. The batter was too thin or the crumbs were too fine and warm. Measure flour by spooning it into the cup, chill the streusel, and scatter it lightly.

The streusel is sandy, not clumpy. Add 1 to 2 more tablespoons of melted butter and squeeze the mixture into pieces with your fingers.

The cake is dry. It baked too long, or the flour was packed into the cup. Start checking at the low end of the time range.

The middle sank after baking. It was pulled early, or the oven runs cool. An inexpensive oven thermometer shows whether 350°F really means 350°F.

The swirl made a gap in the cake. Too much swirl mixture in one spot can form a tunnel. Sprinkle it evenly and keep it away from the edges.

Make-ahead, storage and freezing

Coffee cake keeps its texture best covered at room temperature for the first day or two. For longer storage, refrigerate it. Cleveland Clinic lists cakes at 3 to 4 days in the fridge and 2 to 3 months in the freezer. Bring refrigerated squares to room temperature or warm them for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave so the streusel softens.

To freeze, cool the cake completely, skip the glaze, and wrap squares individually in plastic wrap, then put them in a freezer bag. Thaw covered at room temperature. Glaze after thawing.

For a holiday morning, bake the cake the afternoon before. Breakfast is then a matter of cutting squares and making coffee. If you want a second sweet that also bakes ahead, overnight cinnamon rolls rise in the fridge and bake in the morning. For a pull-apart option made with canned biscuits, see monkey bread.

A pantry bake that feeds a crowd

Everything here except the sour cream is a baking pantry staple: flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs, cinnamon and leaveners. One 9x13 pan makes 15 squares, which covers a brunch, a school bake sale tray or a week of breakfasts for a small family. Buying butter, flour and sugar on your regular grocery run, rather than as a special trip, keeps the cost down. Our guide on how to grocery shop on a budget covers building a pantry that makes bakes like this possible on short notice.

Plan the bake

Set out the butter, eggs and sour cream about an hour before you mix so the batter comes together smoothly.

• Meal Planner & Grocery List, $3.99. A weekly menu and an aisle-sorted grocery list, so sour cream and butter make it onto the list before brunch.
• Family Recipe Binder, $6.99. Write down your pan, your oven's real bake time and your favorite streusel add-ins.

Browse more kitchen printables in the printables shop.

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