What makes a coffee cake a coffee cake?

This a fabulous question because it is the same as determining the difference between muffins and cupcakes. A coffee cake is categorized as a coffee cake mainly based on the time of day you eat it, in the morning with your coffee at breakfast. They come in all different flavors like lemon , banana , sour cream , almond poppyseed so it doesn't necessarily have to be a classic cinnamon flavor to be considered a coffee cake.

What is cinnamon streusel made of?

Cinnamon streusel is made of a mixture of salted butter, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, and either brown or powdered sugar. They are simply mixed together until a crumbly mixture forms.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake (Best Recipe Ever!)

Ingredients

Scale

- 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

- 1 1/2 C sugar

- 3 eggs, room temperature

- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

- 1 1/4 C sour cream

- 2 1/2 C cake flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Streusel

- 1/2 C brown sugar

- 1 C flour

- 3 tsp cinnamon

- 6 Tb cold butter, cut into pieces

- 1 C chopped pecans, optional

Glaze

- 1/2 C powdered sugar

- 2 Tb milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10″ tube pan.
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl and mix again. Add vanilla and sour cream. Turn off the mixer and add all the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and stir just until combined.
For the streusel, place sugar, flour cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and mix. Using your fingers, pinch in the butter until the mixture crumbles. Mix in pecans if using.
Spray a bundt pan or angel food cake pan with nonstick spray. Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle 2/3 of the streusel on top then spoon the rest of the batter in the pan and spread it out. Scatter the remaining streusel on top.
Bake for 50-55 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean, or the cake springs back when touched on top.
Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes then carefully remove the cake from the pan and transfer the cake onto a cake plate.
Whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the cake.

Notes

If using a bundt pan, layer the cake this way instead: streusel on the bottom, then cake batter, then streusel, and finishing with cake batter.

If using a 9×13 pan, layer the cake as instructed and start checking for doneness after 40 minutes of baking.

Author: Carole Jones
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Category: Breakfast
Method: Baked
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1/12th
Calories: 551
Sugar: 43g
Sodium: 261mg
Fat: 27g
Saturated Fat: 15g
Unsaturated Fat: 2g
Trans Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 70g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 6g
Cholesterol: 92mg

Keywords: cinnamon streusel coffee cake