There are hundreds of types of cake out there, each with its unique charm and flavours. Out of all of them, one of the most underrated cakes is probably the coffee cake.
If you go online you will only find a handful of decent coffee cake recipes. This is because they tend not to be as popular as chocolate, red velvet, or chocolate cake.
Lucky for you, this complete guide will not only teach you the steps to make the perfect coffee cake but also extra tips on how to enhance it as well as storing techniques.
What Is A Coffee Cake?
Before jumping into our coffee cake recipe, you must first understand what exactly a coffee cake is.
A coffee cake is a single-layer cake that is infused with sweet cinnamon and topped off with crumbly streusel made from butter, sugar, and flour. You can further customise it with various fruits, spices, nuts, and other toppings to create a more complex flavour and texture.
One of the most common misconceptions about coffee cake is that it always contains coffee. While they did sometimes contain coffee, most coffee cakes nowadays do not. Instead, they are meant as an accompaniment to drinking coffee.
Ingredients For Making Standard Coffee Cake
For The Cake Batter
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ cups of sugar
- 1 cup of unsalted butter
- 1 cup of sour cream
- ¼ cup of milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp of baking powder
- ½ tsp of kosher salt
- ½ tsp of baking soda
For The Cinnamon Layer
- 1 tbsp of all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup of sugar
- ½ tsp of ground cinnamon
For The Streusel
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of packed brown sugar
- ½ cup of unsalted butter
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- A pinch of kosher salt
- Any other optional toppings (fruits, nuts, chocolate, etc)
Coffee Cake Recipe: Step-by-step
- Preheat your oven to 375℉ or 190℃. Also prep your pan by using cooking spray.
- To make the streusel layer, insert the flour, salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar into a bowl. Then, use a fork to mix your butter with the mixture.
- Keep on mashing and whisking using the fork until it is fully mixed and has a crumbly texture, then set aside.
- Get another bowl and mix the sugar, cinnamon, and flour to make your cinnamon layer, then set aside.
- Prepare a mixer to start making the batter. Insert flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into the mixer bowl.
- Stir on low speed using the paddle attachment of the mixer.
- Add your softened, unsalted butter to the mixture and stir at medium-low speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Get a medium-sized bowl and mix your wet ingredients (vanilla extract, eggs, milk, sour cream) until fully combined.
- Add this mixture to your previous mixture of dry ingredients, before beating the combined batter on medium speed until the texture turns smooth.
- Place and spread one-half of your batter on the pre-prepared pan.
- Spread the cinnamon layer on top of this first layer, before adding the remainder of your batter to create the upper layer.
- Finish it off with the crumble / streusel mixture.
- Bake it in the oven for 55 minutes before leaving it to cool for 1 hour.
Extra Tips For The Perfect Coffee Cake
- Coffee cake improves in flavour and texture if you leave it on the counter for 1 or 2 days.
- When making the streusel layer, do not substitute butter with margarine or other similar products. Only butter can give you the best, crumbly result.
- Do not overmix the batter; its texture must be smooth but still thick (small lumps are okay).
- When spreading the top layer of the batter, you could grease a metal or silicone spatula to make sure the middle cinnamon layer is not lifted.
How To Store Your Coffee Cake Properly
The best way to store coffee cake is to freeze it. After you cool it down from the oven, wrap it in a sheet of plastic. You can also add a second layer of foil to make sure moisture isn’t lost in the freezer.
Before serving, make sure you defrost the cake first. This can be done by taking it out of the freezer and leaving it on the counter until it reaches room temperature (half-frozen coffee cakes are pretty delicious too.)
