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.
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.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- 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.
FAQs & Expert Tips
FAQs
You may look at this list of ingredients and think to yourself, “where’s the coffee?” 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.
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.
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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 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups sour cream
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Topping
- 2 cups pecans chopped
- 2 tsp cinnamon ground
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
Optional Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp milk
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.
Recipe 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.
Good Morning, can this recipe be baked in a loaf pan? Thanks
Yes you can. Just make sure you check the middle of the loaf with a tooth pick to see if the cake is fully cooked. Let us know how it turns out!
Hi Jo, what do you think is the smallest amount of granulated sugar you could get away with, without affecting the structure of the cake? I am like you- I don’t like things too sweet.
I’m like you, I don’t like things too sweet either, so you could probably get away with 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, then you can skip the glaze completely.
Hello i was wondering why it calls for 2 baking pans? Also how high should the 9×13 pan be? Like a cookie sheet? Thank you
Hi Carrie,
The set of two pans mentioned is because of how the set can be ordered if you don’t already have one. Only one pan is needed for this recipe, and the one we used was 2 inches in height.
Hope this helps!
Thank you for this recipe. Unfortunately I didn’t have pecans therefore I used walnuts instead. The taste is very good. Also instead of the sour cream I used yogurt. The texture was nice too. Thank you again
Hi! Could I use greek yogurt? I always have it on hand but I’m pretty sure it’s more sour/saltier than regular yogurt.
Yes, absolutely you can. I personally love Greek yogurt, it’s thicker and more full of flavor.
I purchased a huge container of blueberries and have been making everything blueberry and saw this recipe and would love to incorporate them. Should I use 1 cup and just fold them into the batter or sprinkle them in the middle of the batter like the pecan mixture? Thanks so much :}
I’d fold them in the batter, but first toss them with some flour, this way they won’t sink to the bottom.
I too love coffee cake. I like making them. I like giving them as gifts. And MOST importantly I like eating them. It is one of life’s little gifts. It’s all the little gifts which do add up that make one’s contentment quotient go way up. That vibration affects others around you and it goes on from there. Just think it all started with one simple coffee cake recipe. Simple looks elegant when it’s baked in a bundt pan by the way.
Could I have a reply jo and tell me what broiling is.
In case your interested the weather here is 40 degrees Celsius = 104 degrees farenheit. Want some?
Yes please send me some!! The broiler usually comes with our ovens here, in the older ovens they used to have a drawer at the bottom, and you could put your food there turn the oven to broil and the heat comes from the top instead of bottom, with the newer ovens it’s just in the oven itself but the heat comes from above. Because the heat is really high and closer to the food it can burn quickly, so it’s a good idea to watch it.
But that doesn’t tell me what broil is. It’s an American word. Is grilling or what ?
Yes it is . In England we still have cookers where the oven is above at eye level so its easy to keep an eye on your grilling / broiling. I have a ringmaster and the oven is enclosed so no visual display. I have to watch or know how high to put the dial. especially as mine is running on gas
and not electric.
Good luck
Sabine
I just made a b spice cake where everything was just dumped into the bowl
And beaten together. So easy. Came out beautifully. Why can’t all cakes ben made like that.
I like to put chopped dried apricots in my sour cream coffee cake.
Such a pretty coffee cake. : ) My morning indulgent pleasure is coffee and fresh donuts!
Yes you got me there, I love donuts!!!!!
thank u for the recipe ,this cake looks very delicious,i will try this as soon as i can.
You’re welcome. 🙂
Me encanta. deliciosa y fácil de preparar.
solo que me gustarÃÂa saber las medidas en gramos y el horno, usamos la medida de grados.
Thank God for google translator, I guess you’d like to know how much 350 F degrees it’s in C and the answer is 175 C.