This Classic Coffee Cake Recipe is soft and tender with a ribbon of cinnamon in the middle and a crumbly buttery brown sugar topping!
Coffee Cake is one of our FAVORITE weekend breakfasts, served with fruit salad or a side of Fluffy Scrambled Eggs.
This recipe for coffee cake is tried and true, best eaten nice and warm with a tall glass of milk, coffee, or hot chocolate.
Classic Coffee Cake
My favorite thing about coffee cake is that it can be enjoyed for dessert, breakfast, or an afternoon snack! Coffee cake does not have coffee in it, but is meant to be eaten with tea or coffee.
I made this coffee cake recipe without sour cream and it is one of my favorites because of the lovely crumbly topping with brown sugar and the nice cinnamon sugar filling going right through the center of the cake. So delicious!
Ingredients Needed
Here’s the basic list of ingredients you’ll need in order to make this Classic Coffee Cake. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients located in the printable recipe card below.
- Eggs
- Sugar – brown and white granulated for the topping and cake
- Flour – all-purpose
- Vegetable Oil – or canola oil
- Baking Powder – rising agent for the cake
- Cinnamon – the star of the show, adds so much flavor!
- Butter – for the topping
How To Make Coffee Cake
It’s easy to make the coffee cake batter and simple four-ingredient filling/topping. Don’t forget to preheat the oven to 350℉ before you start.
Mix Wet Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk vegetable oil, and vanilla extra and mix until combined and smooth.
Mix Dry Ingredients
Add into the wet ingredients the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk until combined. Set aside.
Make Topping
In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, cold butter, and flour.
Use clean hands to pinch the butter into the brown sugar and flour, creating a crumbly and coarse topping.
Assemble the Cake
Pour half of the cake batter into a greased 9 inch by 13 inch baking dish.
Sprinkle 1/3 of the brown sugar topping over the batter. Pour the remaining cake batter over the top, then sprinkle the remaining brown sugar topping over the batter.
Bake Coffee Cake
Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool slightly before serving. You may serve the cake warm or let it cool completely, but I believe coffee cake is best when served warm.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
- Once you add in the dry ingredients, mix the batter until combined and no flour pockets are left but don’t mix it too much. Overmixing can cause it to have a rubbery texture when baked.
- The vegetable oil can be swapped for melted butter if you want an even more rich taste.
- Switch out a teaspoon of vanilla for almond or rum extract for a different but delicious flavor profile!
Make Ahead and Storage
It’s really easy to make this coffee cake ahead of time!
Make Ahead: You can make it the night before and bake it or simply refrigerate it before baking and bake it in the morning.
To Store: Cover with plastic wrap once cooled and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
To Freeze: Once cooled, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Common Questions
It’s a single-layer cake meant to be enjoyed with coffee. Common variations include a cinnamon flavor and sugary streusel topping, or a fruit-filled center.
Some variations call for sour cream, but this recipe does not have sour cream in it.
Not necessarily. While some versions do, most versions don’t!
While both versions are similar, the coffee cake has a thinner layer of streusel on top or no streusel at all and sometimes has a filling in the middle, while streusel cakes have a nice thick layer on top.
More Delicious Breakfast Cake Recipes
Sometimes cake for breakfast is the thing to do, especially for holidays or weekends! Here are some of our favorites. Make sure to try at least one!
- Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake
- Cream Cheese Raspberry Coffee Cake
- Super Easy Dutch Baby Pancake Recipe
- Buttermilk Cranberry Cake
This is a much loved coffee cake recipe in our house. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Classic Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1¼ cup milk
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
For The Topping
- 1¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ cup butter, cold, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13" baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract until combined.
- Add in 3 cups all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Combine the ingredients for the topping (brown sugar, cinnamon, cold butter and flour) in a medium bowl and use clean hands to pinch the butter into the brown sugar and flour, creating a crumbly and coarse topping.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared baking pan and then sprinkle 1/3 of the topping over the batter. Pour the remaining cake batter over the top, then sprinkle the remaining brown sugar topping over the batter.
- Bake the cake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool slightly before serving. You may serve the cake warm or let cool completely. Enjoy!
Cake is very course and greasy. Topping all settled into a puddle in bottom of the pan.
Delicious
Is it possible to get your recipes by email? I can’t print from my Facebook page. But will be able to print from email.