“It’s a magical moment when you realize that as an adult, you don’t have to wait until after dinner to have dessert” That is a real quote from my husband, and it’s honestly life changing. But what do you do when it’s not socially acceptable to eat brownies for brunch or ice cream for breakfast? I give you the ultimate excuse: coffee cake! This coffee cake allows you to have cake for breakfast and it’s a totally acceptable morning meal! This is by far one of my favorite treats to make for guests, holidays, or really anytime I’m craving something sweet in the a.m.
I grew up going to a friends house whose mom always had coffee cake on the table. I’m pretty sure it was from a box, but I had never had anything like it. The moist cake with that amazing, crumble topping, I mean can anything really compare? When I set out to make it myself, I had a hard time finding one that could, so I decided to take a swing at attempting to create it myself and I’m so happy I did.
When I was working on developing this recipe, there were a few components that I wanted to focus on. First and foremost, the crumble. I mean common, look at that outrageous crumble topping. On my first attempts, my topping kept baking into the cake. It still tasted good but was missing that crunch element that is the staple of a classic coffee cake. After failing multiple times and trying to adjust the bake time, temperature and ratios, I decided to half bake the cake and then add the crumble, return to the oven for the last 30 minutes and…. it was pure magic when this beauty came out of the oven.
The second element I wanted to focus on was the actual taste of the cake. Since this is technically a breakfast dish and has other sweet elements, I wanted to create a cake that was tart and could hold it’s own against the other flavors. After trying sour cream, buttermilk and other options, I decided on plain Greek yogurt. It adds the perfect tangy flavor to a cake with a cinnamon sugar swirl and half an inch of crumble.
The next component to this cake is the brown sugar cinnamon swirl through the middle of the cake. After your batter is made, later half into a greased and floured tube pan. Spoon in the filling mixture, evenly distributing, and then finish by layering on the rest of the batter.
If you don’t have a tube pan:
If you don’t have a tube pan, no worries! I recently made this in a 9×13 and so I wanted to share those results with you. To make it in a 9×13, double the cake recipe and filling. The crumb topping is enough to cover the 9×13, so you don’t have to worry about making extra!
The final element to this cake is the icing, I mean look at that drip. It puts a sweet little bow on this classically delicious coffee cake. All in all this takes about an hour and a half from start to finish but the time is worth it!! Let me know what you think!
Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
For the crumb topping:
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ sticks cold butter, cubed
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
For the center filling
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
For the glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour your tube pan and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer for 4-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. While the butter and sugar are creaming, you will make the crumb topping and filling.
- For the crumb topping I like to use my food processor but you can also use a pastry blender or even your hands! Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt to the food processor. Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the dry ingredients. Pulse until it all starts to come together, about 2 minutes. The mixture will become darker and start to clump together, and that's when you know it's ready! Pour the mixture into a bowl and put into the fridge until you need it.
- In a separate small bowl, add in the ingredients for the center filling and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Once the butter and sugar mixture is creamed, add in room temperature eggs, one at a time, and mix until just combined. Add in vanilla and greek yogurt, and stir to combine.
- Sift the cake flour, baking soda and baking powder together and add the stand mixer. Mix until it all comes together. The batter will be thick so don't worry!
- Layer half of the batter into the pan and smooth. Spoon in the center filling and then layer the rest of the batter on top. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the cake from the oven. Pull the crumb topping from the fridge and sprinkle over the top of the half baked cake. Return to the oven to bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.
- Once the cake is done, pull from the oven and let it completely cool on a cooling rack. Once cooled, carefully remove from the pan.
- To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, heavy whipping cream and salt and mix until smooth. Add more of the whipping cream to get your desired consistency if you want it thinner. Drizzle on the cake and you're ready to serve!
Did you make this recipe? Tag @mymessykitchenn on Instagram and hashtag it #mymessykitchen, or leave a comment on this page!
Nate Sylvester
I had brought my lunch along with a piece of this cake and I told myself “hey I ll just try a bite and then eat my lunch..” 5 seconds later my coffee cake was gone and of course I couldn’t eat my lunch! No regrets! Easily one of THEE best coffee cakes I ve had 10/10 recommend
rita
can we use sour cream instead
Emily
Hi Rita, yes you can easily substitute sour cream for the Greek yogurt! Use the same amount of sour cream that the recipe calls for Greek yogurt. I prefer the Greek yogurt because of the tang it gives the cake, but sour cream is a great substitute!
Sierra
Omygosh this looks delish! I haven’t tried it yet but the pics alone are making my mouth water. I’ve printed the recipe and hope to try it out this weekend. I’ll post an update once I make it.
Emily
Hi Sierra, let me know if you end up making this! It’s one of the most made recipes on my site so I’m sure you will love it!