Sour Cream Coffee Cake
This sour cream coffee cake has a ribbon of cinnamon sugar running through it and big, buttery pieces of streusel on top. It’s the perfect cake for brunch, dessert, or just because!
This sour cream coffee cake recipe is a new and improved version of my classic coffee cake. I originally shared this recipe back in 2020, but after some reader feedback I made a few adjustments to the original recipe to make it even better.
This cinnamon streusel-topped version is incredibly simple to make and it would be perfect for brunch or Mother’s Day. It’s made in a 9-inch pan so it feeds a hungry family or small crowd comfortably, plus it’s easy to transport.
If you’ve been searching for an old-fashioned coffee cake recipe that isn’t too difficult, this is it! I guarantee everyone will be begging you for this recipe!
Recipe Video
Here’s How We’re Making This Recipe Even Better
- Using a different size pan. The original recipe I posted used a 9×13 pan, but I received some feedback that the batter was difficult to spread out into such a thin layer. I adjusted the recipe for a 9-inch square pan, which makes for easier spreading and yields thicker slices of coffee cake (win-win!).
- Adding a cinnamon sugar swirl in the middle instead of streusel. My original recipe used the same streusel in the middle and the top, which was delicious but didn’t pack in enough cinnamon flavor. After multiple rounds of recipe testing, I settled on adding a swirl of cinnamon sugar to the middle which really took this cake up a notch!
- Reduced the flour and increased the sugar slightly. This makes the cake even more moist! I found that just ¼ cup less flour in the cake batter also made it MUCH easier to spread.
The Temperature Of Your Ingredients Matters
Make sure you’re using cold butter to make the cinnamon streusel, which will help it hold its shape and become nice and crunchy as the cake bakes. If you use warm butter in the streusel, it won’t hold up as well in the oven.
However, the butter, eggs, and sour cream used in the cake batter must be at room temperature to ensure that everything mixes together thoroughly. Your butter should also be at a cool room temperature. In other words, it’s cool to the touch, but your finger leaves an indent if you press into it.
If you need to bring your ingredients for the cake batter to room temperature quickly, here’s what you can do:
- Slice butter into small pieces and arrange them in a single layer on a plate.
- Place the eggs in a bowl of warm tap water for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Microwave the sour cream for 15 to 20 seconds. Make sure to keep a close eye on it though!
Tips For Making This Coffee Cake
- Don’t over mix the streusel. I suggest using a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients. The streusel mixture is meant to feel sandy and crumbly. Once it looks like the picture above, it’s ready!
- Cream the butter and sugar together long enough. You need to cream together the butter and sugar for a good 3 to 4 minutes. This incorporates air into the batter and will prevent your coffee cake from being too dense.
- Measure your flour correctly. You never want to scoop your flour from the container. Instead, stir it around, spoon the flour out of the bag into your measuring cup, then level off the flour with the back of a butter knife. I have a full blog post on how to measure flour correctly, if you’re newer to baking.
- Use a light metal pan! Dark metal pans retain more heat and often cook faster, which results in burnt edges and uneven baking. I highly recommend sticking with a light-colored pan for best results. This 9-inch USA pan is my personal favorite!
Can I Add Nuts Or Chocolate?
Absolutely! You can add up to 1 cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips to the batter.
Can I Make This Into Muffins?
Yes, but you will need to reduce the baking time. I recommend filling each liner almost all the way to the top, then sprinkling the streusel on top. Keep in mind that you may not need all of the streusel; if that’s the case, you can freeze any extra and use it for another recipe.
I’m so happy with how this new version turned out! It’s softer, more moist, and packed with so much cinnamon flavor. I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour spooned & leveled (95 grams)
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar (100 grams)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- Tiny pinch of salt
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cubed into small pieces (85 grams)
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (70 grams)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cake
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled (220 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113 grams; 1 stick)
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (250 grams)
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream at room temperature (240 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a light 9-inch square metal pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- To make the streusel topping: Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Add the cubed butter and cut it into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter until the mixture starts to come together and is crumbly. Cover and transfer to the refrigerator.¾ cup all-purpose flour,½ cup packed light brown sugar,2 teaspoons ground cinnamon,Tiny pinch of salt,6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- To make the cinnamon sugar filling: Add the granulated sugar and cinnamon to a small mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Set aside.⅓ cup granulated sugar,2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- To make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour,1 teaspoon baking powder,¼ teaspoon baking soda,½ teaspoon salt,½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes).½ cup unsalted butter,1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- Mix in the eggs one at a time. Stop and scrape around the sides of the bowl, then mix in the vanilla extract.2 large eggs,2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Add half of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Add the sour cream and mix until just combined, then mix in the last half of the dry ingredients until just combined.1 cup sour cream
- To assemble the coffee cake: Scoop half of the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out into an even layer (I like to use an angled spatula for this step). Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly all over the top of the cake batter. Drop large spoonfuls of the remaining half of the cake batter all over the top and very gently spread it out into one even layer.
- Remove the streusel from the refrigerator and sprinkle it evenly all over the top of the cake.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If using a darker pan, the baking time will be closer to 40 minutes for a lighter pan it will take closer to 50 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a wire rack in the pan for at least 45 minutes to 1 hour, then slice and enjoy!
Can I double the recipe and bake it in a 9×13 pan?
I would increase the recipe by half. Doubling it would be too much for a 9×13 pan.
This was fantastic and easy to make. Followed the recipe exactly. The review where I believe the author suggested using a spatula with cooking spray to spread the top layer of better out was a great suggestion. Hubby loves this so will be a repeater f0r sure!
Delicious, moist and easy. Added a handful of finely chopped pecans to middle crumb mixture. Would make this again.
Delicious cake & moist! Thanks Danielle! 😃
Delicious & moist. I didn’t have sour cream but I substituted cottage cheese (( whipped up with lemon) & it came out great!
Just made this and had a lot of fun! It’s very good. Also very, very rich and sweet. Next time I will use half the measurements for the topping. I will try halving the butter and sugar for the cake and sub with plain yogurt. It’s very good. Just too rich for my tastebuds.
I would have to agree and use less batter at bottom otherwise you may not have enough for top layer. But tastes great!
I did a 9×9 pan & it got really thick. Smells yummy but I’m afraid I messed it up lol. Follow the instructions people!
Okay, update . Baked in 9×9 for 45 minutes and it came out amazing !
This cake is FANTASTIC!! I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream because I had some I was trying to use up and it turned out GREAT. Everybody in my house loved it.
Thank you, Alison! That’s wonderful to hear!
Do you think it would work to bake this in a cheesecake pan?!
You can bake it in a 9-inch springform pan. You will probably need to increase the baking time though.
Hi, I made this coffee cake to surprise my husband for his birthday since it’s so hard to find moist coffee cake in stores (without added stuff like fruit)! It seemed to fall (or not rise) in the center and was undercooked in the center, and too dry on the ends–this after baking at 350 for more a few minutes more than the 35 minutes recommended. I’m sure this was my fault, given all the other comments, but I don’t know what I did wrong! Thanks–Will try it again but hoping for tips.
Hi, Nate! It may be that your oven runs a little warmer than mine. If you make it again and find that this is happening, you can loosely cover the top with foil until the center is baked through. That will keep the ends from drying out and allow the center to fully bake. I hope that helps!
This coffee cake is fantastic! Moist and delicious. My husband said it is a hit and a keeper. I have also been in search for the perfect coffee cake and your recipe has stopped the search. I will definitely serve this when our children come for a visit and for guests. I only had 3/4 cup of sour cream and I didn’t have any Greek yogurt but I did have heavy whipping cream that I added to round out the full cup that I needed. Worked great. I have never tasted such a moist coffee cake as this one. I followed your tips. Thank you so much!
So glad the cake turned out great for you, Jen!
Is it possible to bake this in a traditional bundt pan so it looks more “cakelike”?
I think it would be fine to use a bundt pan. It may not be *quite* enough batter to make a full-size bundt cake though.
Super easy to make, turned out great! Batter looks thick but like it’s going to be a thin cake. At first I was skeptical but the cake baked up and turned out amazing! Perfectly moist as well!! We made 2 batches for my bf office and all the guys loved it! Went back for seconds, all gone in no time 🙂 Every Sunday night we make a breakfast type pastries/sweet something for their Monday morning meet, this is definitely a keeper for my rotation!
So happy to hear that the cake turned out great for you, Danielle!
Hi Danielle
I made the coffee cake and everyone loved it. It was moist with the perfect amount of crumb. I did make one change as I do with all your recipes. I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure GF flour since I cannot have gluten. Otherwise I followed all your tips. It’s another winner and no one ever suspects your treats are gluten free.
Thank you! So happy to hear that the cake turned out great with gluten-free flour, Stephanie!
This cake was delicious though it was a bit too moist and wet. Otherwise, great job! 🙂
Hello Danielle
I made your coffee cake recipe last night,, it was to die for, delicious, moist tasty & easy to make., i will making this coffee cake again,I want to thank you., I will be looking forward to see more of your recipes.
,Today I will knocking on my neighbors doors who have a sweet ? like me to give them a piece,
Thank you, Laurna! So glad you enjoyed the coffee cake!
I follow this recipe exactly and coffee cake comes out perfectly every time! It tastes exactly like store bought cake!
This coffee cake was delicious!! Though i anticipated an angel food cake like consistency and mine was VERY dense. Note I don’t have a hand mixer so I mixed the sugar and butter my whisk…I wonder if that was the problem. Either way will make again!! 🙂
Hi, Rachel! Since this coffee cake is made with sour cream it is denser, I prefer to eat it warm while it’s still a little soft. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Made these and my siblings loved them! thank you
Hi Danielle! I want to make this cake so bad but neither sour cream nor Greek yogurt are available where I live at the moment. Is there something else I can use, like buttermilk or regular full fat yogurt maybe? Love all your recipes 🙂
You can use full-fat yogurt in place of the sour cream.
The batter was delicious (I definitely scraped the bowl and ate the raw batter that was left!) but to echo another comment above, the batter was very dry and was not at all spreadable atop the first crumb layer. I had to make another half batch of the batter to sort of scoop and drop over the crumb topping in order to have any hope of a second near-full layer of the cake. I also made 50% crumb topping because I like a LOT of crumb topping on top. We’ll see how it turns out but it smells delicious in the oven!
Is there any chance there was supposed to be another egg, or more butter or milk in the recipe? I could have scooped the batter onto a cookie sheet and made whoopee pies, based on the consistency. Which… would certainly not make for a bad cookie!
Hi, Nick! Since this cake is made with sour cream, the batter is very thick. If you made sure to spoon and level the flour, you didn’t do anything wrong. It won’t seem like much batter when you spread it out in the pan, but the cake will rise quite a bit as it bakes. If you have trouble spreading it, you can try spraying the back of a spoon or rubber spatula with some non stick cooking spray and that should help too!
Coffee cake was delicious; the batter was a little dry; so I added milk (1/4 cup) to give it better consistency. Made coffee cake in bundt Pampered Chef pan; Family approved!
So glad you enjoyed the coffee cake, Sunny!
This looks very good! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for posting!!
I love Danielle’s recipes…. They sre mouthwatering.
Thank you, Bernette! Hope you enjoy the cake if you try it!
Perfectly moist and delicious! The batter is very thick. I would suggest pouring less batter in the bottom of the pan, since I barely had enough batter to cover the streusel. I will definitely make this again.
Hi Danielle..thank you for sharing the recipe and method. I do not see coffee is included in any part of the recipe. Could you please advise?
Coffee cake doesn’t have coffee in it, it’s just meant to be eaten with a cup of coffee 🙂