Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

It’s a rare person who can resist a piece of freshly made coffee cake, especially when it’s spiced with a cinnamon ripple filling and sprinkled with a streusel topping. Paired with a cup of hot coffee — mmm, heaven

The directions give you the choice of baking in a 9×13 pan or two 9″ round cake pans. I chose the 9×13 pan option because I wanted to cut it in squares instead of slices. The cake took 15-20 minutes longer to bake, but I’m not sure if that’s an issue with the recipe directions or my oven. Just be warned that yours might take a bit longer to bake. Check it at 55-60 minutes, then let it bake longer if it’s still wet or doughy in the middle when doing the toothpick check.

I added about a 1/2 cup sliced almonds to the streusel topping, which turned out to be a nice addition. Chopped pecans would also work if you wanted to add those.

This is a large cake so it’s perfect for feeding a crowd. Enjoy!

Cinnamon-Streusel Coffeecake

Looking for everyone’s favorite comfort-food coffeecake? This is it. Soft and moist, nicely cinnamon-y, this is the quintessential breakfast coffeecake.

Note: For those of you looking for a cake with less filling, one where the golden cake itself is the main attraction, reduce the amount of brown sugar in the filling to 1/3 cup, keeping the remaining ingredients the same.

Our guarantee: This golden cake is tender and moist, with a middle layer of dark cinnamon filling and a crumbly streusel topping.

Streusel topping
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling
• 1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Cake
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1 1/4 cups milk (anything from skim to whole)
• 3 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan, or two 9″ round cake pans.

• Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring until well combined. Set the topping aside.

• Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Note that the cocoa powder is used strictly for color, not flavor; leave it out if you like. Set it aside.

• To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.

• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream or yogurt and milk till well combined. You don’t need to whisk out all the lumps.

• Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/sour cream mixture, beating gently to combine.

• Pour/spread half the batter (a scant 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you’re using two 9″ round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.

• Sprinkle the filling evenly on the batter.

• Spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don’t combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.

• Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.

• Bake the cake until it’s a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9″ x 13″ pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9″ round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back. (My 9×13 cake took longer than 60 minutes to bake — about 15-20 minutes longer)

• Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.

Tips from King Arthur Flour bakers
• Since butter and sour cream are both key ingredients in this cake, we encourage you to use the best quality you can get. We highly recommend Cabot, a superb Vermont brand available nationally.
• It’s easy to spread half the batter in the pan when you know how much it weighs. If you have a kitchen scale, half the batter weighs about 28 ounces.
• Want to prepare this coffeecake the night before, then bake in the morning? It’s easy; simply cover the unbaked cake with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Next morning, bake the cake as directed. Start testing for doneness at the end of the suggested baking time; you’ll probably have to add 5 minutes or so to the total time, to account for the batter being chilled.
• Dress it up for guests: Make a glaze with ½ cup confectioners’ or glazing sugar and 1 tablespoon milk; drizzle glaze over the cooled coffeecake.