Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Name: Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour; ⅓ cup (65 g) granulated sugar; ⅓ cup (65 g) brown sugar (light or dark); 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; ⅛ teaspoon salt; 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter, melted; 1 ¾ cups (210 g) all-purpose flour; 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ cup (1 stick or 113 g) butter, softened to room temperature; 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar; 2 large eggs, (room temperature); 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 cup (237g) sour cream

Published: May 9, 2014 · Modified: Jun 27, 2024 by Shiran · This post may contain affiliate links · 54 Comments

Jump to Recipe

A tender, delicate sour cream cake with not one, but two layers of cinnamon crumbs – both inside and on top of the cake.

I remember the first time I tasted a piece of coffee cake – or at least, what I thought a coffee cake meant at that time. I was a little girl, sitting in a small lovely coffee shop in Napa Valley, and I kept staring at the large pieces of cakes that had a delightful cinnamon smell. I asked the waitress what kind of cake it was and she said it was a coffee cake. I told her that I don’t like coffee, so she smiled, but I didn’t understand why. I ordered it anyway because the cinnamon smell was killing me. My first thought after I took a bite was that it doesn’t taste at all like coffee! Now, before you think I’m a total weirdo, let me defend myself and say that I have tasted many coffee cakes before that, I just didn’t know they were called that. Back then I knew nothing about desserts, except that I wanted to eat them all the time (not that anything has changed since then…). It took me a while, but eventually I figured it out – the name suggests that the cake is supposed to be eaten alongside coffee. But, that still didn’t make sense. Don’t all cakes go well with coffee?

This recipe is amazing, and the best part of it is the layers of cinnamon streusel. I love it so much that I thought to myself, why add just one layer of streusel, when I can add two? If you’re anything like me, you’ll like this idea. So, instead of sprinkling the streusel just on top of the cake, I have added another layer inside the cake. One layer just didn’t seem to be enough for me. The cake is tender and moist with just the right amount of crumbs. I used sour cream as the liquid, which makes this cake super delicate. The cake isn’t overly sweet like some coffee cakes I’ve tried before. You can taste both the cake and the crumbs in this cake – the crumbs don’t overpower the cake taste since the cake is delicious on its own!

Would you like to save this recipe?

We'll email this recipe link to you, so you can come back to it later!

Making the streusel is super-duper easy. No pastry cutter or food processor is needed. All you need to do is mix melted butter with the dry ingredients. The mixture becomes moist and crumbly as a result. The cake is done by using the creaming method. That means creaming the butter and sugar first, then beating in the eggs and vanilla. Only then do you add the dry ingredients and sour cream alternatively. Then, scrape half of the batter to the pan, then half of the crumbs and repeat.

If during baking the crumbs start to brown too much (although it didn’t happen to me), cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil. My cake was ready in 35 minutes, but start checking it after 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs. The cake isn’t ready if the batter on the toothpick is still wet.

So… how do you like your coffee? I like mine with a cake!

4.89 from 18 votes