Sour Cream Coffee Cake
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This Sour Cream Coffee Cake, made with a simple batter, comes out rich, moist, and perfectly sweetened, served with an easy glaze. You’ll never wake up on the wrong side of the bed with this cake waiting for you! Featuring a sweet pecan streusel, with a spike of cinnamon running through the middle.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe
There’s nothing like starting the day off with a slice of this sour cream coffee cake, paired with a hot cup of joe. It’s one of my small pleasures in life! Made with a simple list of pantry staples, this cake is moist, delicious and perfect for a sweet morning or afternoon treat. I’m not one to judge if you eat this for breakfast, I do.
- Uses Simple, Pantry Staple Ingredients
- Easy, Straightforward Recipe
- Moist & Delicious
- Good Old Fashioned Coffee Cake
This classic, good old fashioned sour cream coffee cake is made with cinnamon, brown sugar, and a pecan crumble, both as a middle layer and also sprinkled over the top. So good, a must try!
Ingredient Notes
- Butter – Unsalted, softened. You could use margarine but I recommend using butter if you have it.
- Sugar – We are using both regular granulated sugar and brown sugar! The brown sugar is for the streusel. Feel free to adjust the granulated sugar to your taste, I usually like it a little bit less sweet, so I cut the sugar especially since we have the streusel but it’s totally up to you.
- Eggs – You’ll need 3 large eggs, note that there are only 2 eggs in the picture, but you’ll need 3 eggs.
- Vanilla – Extract, paste, or fresh vanilla bean. Without vanilla, the cake may taste a little flat.
- Sour cream or yogurt – It is a sour cream cake, so there’s lots of sour cream needed. You can substitute it with yogurt.
- Flour – All-purpose. If you use cake flour, use 1 cup plus 2 tbsp cake flour for every cup of AP called for in the recipe.
- Leaveners – You’ll need both baking soda and baking powder. If you’re going to use one or the other, use baking powder.
- Pecans – Or walnuts. You can also skip the nuts, and just use brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Cinnamon – Ground. Use more or less depending on how much cinnamon flavor you want.
How To Make Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F degrees and generously grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Make the batter: In a mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar and mix well until light and creamy. To it add the eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and mix well until combined. In another bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the mixer and mix everything well.
- Mix the streusel: In a small bowl mix the chopped pecans with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake: Place half the batter in the baking pan. Pour half the pecan mixture over the batter. Repeat with remaining batter and pecan crumble. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake, it should come out clean when baked through.
- Make glaze: Add the icing sugar and milk to a small bowl and whisk until smooth, add more milk if wanting a thinner consistency.
- Finish the cake: Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes then drizzle with glaze, cut into slices and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Coffee Cake?
You may look at this list of ingredients and think to yourself, u0022where’s the coffee?u0022 While you can find coffee flavored coffee cakes, the name isn’t indicative of the flavor. Coffee cake is, simply, a type of cake to be served in the morning with a cup of coffee. That’s it! That’s why you’ll see a variety of flavors like this sour cream coffee cake, or versions with fruits such as blueberries.
How Do I Know When The Cake Is Done?
The best way to test your coffee cake is with a toothpick. When you think they cake may be done, insert a toothpick into the thickest part of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean with no batter, it’s all done. If there’s any batter left, let the cake cook for another 5-10 minutes and then repeat the toothpick test in a separate spot. Since there is a streusel in this recipe, you may see a bit of the sugar come off on the toothpick. Don’t worry if that’s the case! As long as there’s none of the actual cake batter on the toothpick, the cake is good to go.
Tips
- Once you cut the cake into slices, cover it with wrap immediately because it can dry out quickly.
- The batter is supposed to be pretty thick and dense, so don’t be alarmed when it doesn’t resemble regular cake batter. If you are worried and want to make it easier to pour over and spread over the streusel topping, you could always add another egg to it to thin it out a bit.
- For a healthier alternative, you could replace the butter with applesauce or coconut oil.
Storing Coffee Cake
Let your coffee cake fully cool down to room temperature before storing. You can wrap it with plastic wrap, store on a cake plate with a dome, or a large sealable container. Your cake will last 1-2 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge.
Freezing
Let the cake completely cool down to room temperature before freezing. Wrap the cake well with both plastic wrap and foil. Store in the freezer for 2-3 months. I find it’s best to let the cake thaw slowly at room temperature for a few hours when you’re ready to enjoy it.
You can also slice the cake and wrap the slices individually. This way you can take slices out as you wish to enjoy them.
More Great Recipes To Try
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Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Coffee Cake
- ¾ cup butter (unsalted (1 stick ½))
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups sour cream
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Topping
- 2 cups pecans (chopped)
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
Optional Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon milk
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F degrees and generously grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Make the batter: In a mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar and mix well until light and creamy. To it add the eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and mix well until combined. In another bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the mixer and mix everything well.
- Mix the streusel: In a small bowl mix the chopped pecans with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Assemble and bake: Place half the batter in the baking pan. Pour half the pecan mixture over the batter. Repeat with remaining batter and pecan crumble. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake, it should come out clean when baked through.
- Make glaze: Add the icing sugar and milk to a small bowl and whisk until smooth, add more milk if wanting a thinner consistency.
- Finish the cake: Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes then drizzle with glaze, cut into slices and serve.
Notes
- Once you cut the cake into slices, cover it with wrap immediately because it can dry out quickly.
- The batter is supposed to be pretty thick and dense, so don’t be alarmed when it doesn’t resemble regular cake batter. If you are worried and want to make it easier to pour over and spread over the streusel topping, you could always add another egg to it to thin it out a bit.
- For a healthier alternative, you could replace the butter with applesauce or coconut oil.
- Leftovers: Let your coffee cake fully cool down to room temperature before storing. You can wrap it with plastic wrap, store on a cake plate with a dome, or a large sealable container. Your cake will last 1-2 days at room temperature or up to a week in the fridge.
- To Freeze: Let the cake completely cool down to room temperature before freezing. Wrap the cake well with both plastic wrap and foil. Store in the freezer for 2-3 months. I find it’s best to let the cake thaw slowly at room temperature for a few hours when you’re ready to enjoy it.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.