Easy Coffee Cake Recipe

Why This Recipe Works

• Taste and texture. If you like butter, cinnamon, sugar, or a combination of all three, this cinnamon cake is for you. It’s moist, soft, and with brown sugary sweetness.
• Topping. A tender crumb topping contains a ribbon of cinnamon sugar swirled throughout the center and then topped with a sweet and crispy crumble topping.
• Freezes well. It’s the perfect freezer-friendly cake and can be pulled out for any last-minute occasion including Thanksgiving or Christmas brunch.

Ingredients Needed

No fancy ingredients required to make this easy recipe for coffee cake. A few common baking staples are all that’s needed to get started.

Find the full printable recipe below.

• All-purpose flour: This recipe is pretty straightforward. It’s all about achieving the perfect textures in each of the layers and knowing how to measure flour is part of that. 
• Milk: The higher the fat content the more moisture the cake will retain, so I use whole milk or at least 2%.
• Baking powder: Check to see that yours has not expired. Otherwise, it won’t give it the lift it needs for a light and airy texture.
• Crumb topping: Easily made with flour, sugar, and butter.
• Butter: I prefer to use salted rather than unsalted butter. There is no added salt anywhere else and quite a bit of sugar, so it offsets it nicely.

How to Make Easy Coffee Cake Recipe

With only 10 minutes of prep time, you’ll soon understand why this easy coffee cake is a recipe I reach for again and again!

• Prepare batter. Whisk together wet ingredients in a bowl then add in the dry ingredients including flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour half of the cake batter into a prepared 8×8 baking dish lined with parchment paper. 
• Make filling. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle it over the bottom portion of the batter. Drizzle with melted butter and then add remaining batter on top. 
• Add crumb topping. In another small bowl, combine flour sugar, and softened butter. Use your hands to crumble it until coarse pea-sized crumbs appear. Sprinkle over top the batter and cover the dish loosely with foil.
• Bake, cool, and slice. Transfer dish to a preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 minutes more. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before slicing it into 9 squares.

Expert Tips

• Make muffins. Turn this classic coffee cake recipe into coffee cake muffins! You’ll divide the batter into a muffin pan, swirl in the cinnamon sugar, and top with a crumble or cinnamon streusel topping. 
• Pan size. Instead of an 8-inch pan, you could use a 9-inch round cake pan with no changes needed. You could also use a 9×5 inch loaf pan and increase baking time to around 40 minutes.
• No mixer is required. This cinnamon coffee cake can be made just by mixing by hand. However, if you do prefer to use a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, go right ahead. I prefer just a medium bowl or large bowl, a whisk, and a wooden spoon.
• Double the recipe. To feed a large crowd, double this easy coffee cake recipe and use a 9×13″ baking pan. Add an extra 5-10 minutes to the bake time.

Storage

Store: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. It doesn’t need to be kept in the fridge and will stay moist as long as it stays covered.

Freezer: Wrap slices tightly with plastic wrap to avoid freezer burn and store in a freezer-friendly bag for up to 3 months.

You can enjoy it cold, at room temperature, or even warmed up in the microwave. Heat in 10 second intervals in the microwave or heat in oven but wrap in aluminum foil to retain moisture.