Buttery Coffee Cake With Cinnamon Crumble & Filling
A buttery and bouncy cake that will make all your breakfast treat dreams come true.
The Ultimate Morning Treat
If you’re like me and love coffee cake, but you don’t love the dry and dense versions that seem to circulate the internet, you must try this one.
I have spent a long time trying to find a way to make a coffee cake moist and buttery enough without losing out on the crumbly topping we all know and love.
On the East Coast they call this crumb cake, here on the West Coast we know it as coffee cake, either way I’m eating this no matter the time of day.
How to Achieve the Perfect Coffee Cake Texture
When you look up recipes online for coffee cake, a majority if not all of them require sour cream. And while sour cream adds tang and some moisture, I don’t think it’s enough on its own. In my recipe I do a few things different.
More Butter: I love a buttery and decadent coffee cake. Butter is beautiful, and using a perfectly softened stick of butter will help you cream together your wet ingredients seamlessly.
Add Less Flour: Too much flour produces a super thick batter which results in a dense and dry cake. You don’t believe me? Look at every recipe that uses over 2 cups and requires an 8x8 baking pan, DRY.
Whole Fat Plain Yogurt: Adding a half cup of whole fat yogurt gives your batter an even better chance at becoming moist and bouncy when baked. I love the added softness and texture the combination of both yogurt and sour cream add together.
Bake Time: The majority of blogs I have seen require a 55-60 minute bake time on their coffee cake. Let me tell you, DON’T DO IT. Your baking pan is going to keep baking your coffee cake while it sets up/is cooling. Please, please, please don’t over-bake your coffee cake. 45 minutes at 350 will do perfectly. I want my fork to glide through the coffee cake like butter, not like a brick of dry sand.
You don’t even need icing for the top, it’s just that good.
Ingredients
Coffee Cake
1 stick unsalted softened butter
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs room temp
½ cup sour cream
½ cup plain whole fat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 and ¼ cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
For the crumble and filling
1 stick softened unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Crumble and Filling
1 stick softened unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Directions
*Preheat your oven to 350 and lightly grease and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. *
Start by combining your ingredients for the crumble/filling. In a mixing bowl, add your 1 cup flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and softened butter. Use clean hands or a fork to combine everything together until a nice sandy texture forms. It’s ok if you have larger pieces of butter throughout. Place crumble aside while you start on the cake batter.
In a medium size bowl, add in your softened butter and cream with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed until fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add in your sugars and cream for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Next, crack in your 2 eggs and combine into your mixture before adding in your vanilla, yogurt and sour cream.
Once your wet ingredients are combined, start to add in your flour, baking powder and salt. Use your mixer to finish combining the dry ingredients with your wet.
In your lined and greased 8x8 baking pan, add in half your batter before topping with half your crumble for the filling. Layer with the remaining ½ of the batter and spread evenly with the back of a rubber spatula before finishing with the rest of your crumble mixture on top.
Bake in your oven at 350 for 45 minutes. You do NOT want to overbake this coffee cake, it will come out super moist and soft if you keep it around 45 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool almost completely before removing it from the pan and slicing it up and enjoying. You can drizzle on icing (2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and a few tablespoons of milk depending on the viscosity you prefer) or just enjoy as is. It is a sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet cake on its own.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave for about 1 and ½ -2 minutes to achieve a warm slice of heaven.
