Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Start off your day right with this Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake. Cake with a layer of dark brown sugar cinnamon and cocoa in the middle then Topped with a crunchy Stresusel made with granulated sugar, flour and More cinnamon. This recipe makes a lot so make a big pot and call over your neighbors to join you for Coffee time.

Ingredients

Topping

  • 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, (if you use unsalted butter)
  • 1 cup (130g) Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
  • 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
  • 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, melted

Filling

  • 1 cup (213g) dark brown sugar or light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa, Dutch-process or natural (OPTIONAL)

Cake

  • 12 tablespoons (170g) butter, at room temperature, at least 65°F
  • 1 teaspoon salt, (1 1/4 teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
  • 1 1/2 cups (298g) granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup (71g) light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (170g) sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups (283g) milk, anything from skim to whole, at room temperature
  • 3 3/4 cups (487.5g) Gold Metal All Purpose Flour

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan, or two 9″ round cake pans.
  2. Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring until well combined. Set the topping aside.
  3. 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.
  4. To make the cake, in a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  6. 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.
  7. Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/sour cream mixture, beating gently to combine.
  8. 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.
  9. Sprinkle the filling evenly on the batter.
  10. 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.
  11. Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.
  12. 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.
  13. 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 Bakers

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. 

Since butter and sour cream are both key ingredients in this cake, we encourage you to use the best quality you can get.

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 it in the morning? It’s easy; simply cover the unbaked cake with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. The 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. 

Enjoy!