Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

Firstly, thank you for the Jaffle love. 🥰 Hit the Jaffle button above to see what he got up to today! Secondly – cake. Specifically, Coffee Cake! A classic crumb cake with a jammy cinnamon ribbon, loaded with lots and lots of nubbly, extra crunchy cinnamon streusel. Outrageously good.

Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

This is a cake with a confusing name but one thing there is no confusion about is that it is WILDLY delicious! It’s an American dessert called a Coffee Cake, though there is no sign of coffee in it, I presume it was named as such because it’s intended to be enjoyed alongside a cup of coffee. 🙂

Rather, it’s a butter cake with a ribbon of cinnamon in the middle topped with a generous amount of chunky crunchy cinnamon crumbs. That crunchy topping is called a streusel, and it is crazy good, the best part of the cake. Which is why I insist on a good amount of it! It’s buttery and caramel-y and full of cinnamon flavour. And when I say it is crunchy, I mean it!! Look at all that nubbly goodness!

Actually, the first time I tried a Coffee Cake was at a Starbucks in the States. Then back home, I came across this recipe by Stella Parks on Serious Eats. I’m a shameless fan girl of Stella – her book Bravetart is my go-to for classic American desserts. I’ve learned so much from her scientific approach to baking.

Stella’s recipe is only topped with crumb, no layer inside, and baked in a larger pan. I’ve adapted it to a square pan and added a generous cinnamon ribbon in the middle.

Ingredients for Coffee Cake

It tastes beautifully buttery as it should, with butter used in both the cake and the crumb! Here’s what you need to make this.

1. cake batter

The cake part of Coffee Cakes is a soft butter cake. It sort of falls between the velvety-plushness of My Very Best Vanilla Cake and the slightly denser texture of tender yogurt-based cakes, like this Lemon Yogurt Cake. It has a lovely buttery flavour, and the use of sour cream plus the tiniest amount of oil keeps the crumb beautifully soft so it stays fresh for days. Bakers’ secret!

Sour cream – Be sure to use full fat sour cream (it really affects crumb softness), and make sure it is at room temperature. If necessary, give it a quick blitz in the microwave! Fridge-cold sour cream will make your batter seize because the butter will solidify, or it will be so thick it’s impossible to spread over the streusel layer. There will be cursing and bowl throwing!
Unsalted butter – Softened to room temperature so it can be creamed.
Oil – Adding 1 tablespoon of oil into the batter was a late addition, and I found that it noticeably improved the freshness of the crumb. You can use any neutral flavoured oil – canola, vegetable, peanut, even a light olive oil (the quantity is so small, you won’t taste it).
Eggs – Also at room temperature, so they blend in easily. Use large eggs which are ~50-55g/2oz each, sold in cartons labelled as such.
Flour – Use plain flour / all-purpose flour. Not cake flour, and not self-raising flour (the built-in baking powder proportions are inappropriate here).
Baking powder – The leavener, to make the crumb rise. I tried with baking soda (bi-carb), thinking that because it’s stronger it might give the cake weighed down with so much streusel a lift-boost, but found that it makes the middle sinks a bit. So, baking powder it is!
Vanilla – For flavour. Vanilla extract (pure vanilla) has better flavour than vanilla essence which is imitation. Don’t use vanilla seeds here – wasted! 🙂
Salt – Just a pinch, to bring out the flavours in everything else. Standard baking practice these days.

2. the cinnamon streusel

This cake uses the same streusel mixture for the crumb topping and for the ribbon of cinnamon in the middle. I much prefer this to using just cinnamon and sugar in the middle which is the usual method. It goes deliciously jammy and it’s thicker too – thanks for the tip Chef John!

Unsalted butter – Softened to room temperature (rather than fridge cold, see Steps section below for why).
Flour – Just plain flour / all-purpose flour.
Brown sugar – Which gives a lovely caramel flavour to the crunchy crumb.
Cinnamon powder – One whole tablespoon, for a good amount of cinnamon flavour!
Salt – To bring out the other flavours.

3. vanilla glaze (optional)

A drizzle of glaze to finish the cake off is entirely optional, but I do think it makes it look extra inviting, adding a bit of lightness to the very brown surface. 🙂 A dusting of icing sugar would also work here!

Icing sugar (powdered sugar) – If you are in Australia, be sure to use soft icing sugar rather than pure icing sugar (if presented with the option). Pure icing sugar is the type that sets hard, like for royal icing. Here, we want it to crust on the surface but be drippy underneath.
Vanilla – As with the cake, vanilla extract rather than imitation essence is recommended! 🙂
Milk – The liquid for the glaze. You can use any type – dairy or non-dairy.

How to make Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

1. the cinnamon streusel

This streusel is made using softened rather than fridge cold butter. Whichever you use makes no difference to the end result (I tried!) but it’s faster to rub softer butter into the dry ingredients – especially given the considerable volume we are making. So, softened butter it is!

Beat – Put all the Streusel ingredients in a bowl (butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt), and beat for 30 seconds or so, until the largest pieces you see are about the size of a pea. Start on low so you don’t create a flour blizzard, then gradually increase the speed.
Finish with fingers, if needed – You should be able to do this entire step with the electric beater. But if needed, finish it off with your fingers, rubbing the larger clumps of butter with your fingertips.

Streusel, done! Pop it in the fridge while you make the batter.

2. THE CAKE BATTER

This is quite a thick batter, so it is extra important to ensure your fridge ingredients (sour cream, egg and butter) are at room temperature before you start. If they are cold, your batter will end up thicker than it should, and you will have trouble spreading it over the cinnamon layer in the middle. The cake also won’t be as soft as it should be as you’re starting with a colder batter in the oven which will take longer to start baking and rising.

Combine Dry ingredients – Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, then set aside.
Beat – Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar until it is soft and creamy. This will take about 1 1/2 minutes on high. At first, it will look crumbly but then it will become soft and creamy. Don’t shortcut this step because creaming the butter is important for a soft butter cake. Then beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and oil.

Flour and sour cream in 3 batches – Add one third of each the flour mixture and sour cream. Beat on low until the flour is just about mixed in. Then add half the remaining flour and sour cream, beat again on low until you can almost not see any flour, and repeat.
Finish mixing by hand – Use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the batter until you can no longer see any flour at all, scraping down the sides and base to make sure everything is mixed in properly. It’s safer to do this by hand because you’re less likely to over-mix which can result in dense cakes.

3. ASSEMBLING

The single most important step in this part is to scrunch that streusel mixture tightly in your hands so it clumps together and you get big nubbly crispy nuggets all over your cake!

Base – Spread just a bit over half the batter in the base of a 20cm / 8″ square pan. I do this because the bottom cake layer never rises quite as much as the top layer, so it ensures the cinnamon ribbon ends up running through the middle of the cake rather than sitting closer to the base. But it’s not essential!
Cinnamon ribbon – Spread 1 cup of the streusel mixture across the surface. No need to scrunch-and-clump here, just use it as it.

Cover with batter – Dollop the remaining batter across the surface, then spread it over to cover the cinnamon. Work from the edges then work your way into the middle. Once the batter is “glued” to the walls of the pan, covering the rest is a cinch.

Don’t fret if you make a bit of a mess of this step, because don’t forget we are covering everything with a thick layer of crumb!
Streusel CLUMPS! Take a handful of the sandy streusel mixture and scrunch it tightly in your hand so it becomes a clump, then break it gently into chunks and scatter them across the surface. Clumps = crunch! So scrunch hard!

Full coverage – Use up all the streusel. A portion of it will still end up sandy and powdery, but that’s ok, as long as you’ve got a good amount of clumps, you will have crunch!
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in a 180°C/350°F oven (160°C fan-forced), or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Check first at the 40 minute mark. Don’t rely on a prod of the surface to judge doneness – this cake feels soft and jiggly even when fully cooked, so a skewer test is the best way to tell when it’s ready.

Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before using the paper overhang to lift the cake out onto a rack. Let it cool for at least another 30 minutes before drizzling with the glaze, if using!
Drizzling – There are no rules! You can be neat and do lines back and forth, or you can drizzle randomly as I have done. 🙂

Now listen (she says sternly!), when you make this, it will be really, really tempting to pick off all the crunchy topping and leave behind the ragged naked cake for everyone else.

But I need you to resist. I promise that your slice – every slice – has plenty of crunchy topping. You will not feel robbed, even without….err…robbing the crumb off the rest of the cake.

Go forth and enjoy every buttery, crunchy, cinnamony, sweet glazed mouthful of this cake. I have absolutely no self control around this cake, and I suspect you won’t either! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel