Easy Coffee Cake Recipe

This coffee cake recipe is so easy to make and is the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cup of joe!! It has a buttery coffee crust topped with coffee infused cake and then layered with fluffy whipped cream. A delicious aroma of coffee fills the room whenever you make this delicious coffee cake treat.

What is Coffee Cake?

Coffee cake is traditionally a vanilla cake with cinnamon streusel that is served along with coffee. Often times the cake itself doesn’t have any coffee in it and instead the name refers to how it is frequently served with coffee.

Keep reading to find out more about this coffee cake recipe...

Jump to:

• What is Coffee Cake?
• Why Make Coffee Cake for Dessert?
• Equipment and Tools to Help you Make This Coffee Cake
• Ingredients Needed to Make Coffee Cake
• Tips and Tricks to Making the Best Cake
• Removing the Cake from the Pan
• How to Make this Coffee Cake Recipe Different
• FAQS + OTHER GREAT TIPS YOU SHOULDN’T SKIP
• How to Store Coffee Cake
• about Blair
• Recipe Details
• Comments

This is a guest post by: Blair from Baked by Blair. Read more about her here.

This Pistachio Pudding Bundt Cake takes the classic Bundt cake up a notch for an upscale dessert with a white chocolate frosting or just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

Why Make Coffee Cake for Dessert?

• It pairs a perfect buttery crust with a soft and tender cake.
• The options for toppings on this cake are endless.
• It actually incorporates coffee into it! Many coffee cakes do not in fact use coffee in the recipe. You’ll be sure to get a hint of coffee in this recipe.
• This cake is perfectly flavored with coffee and pairs extremely well with a cup of tea or a pot of coffee!

Equipment and Tools to Help you Make This Coffee Cake

Selecting the right Pan

Choosing the right pan can become a quite the task. But to make this coffee cake recipe you have a few choices. You can use a 9" round cake pan that is 2" deep. That's what I used to make this cake recipe.

Tools and Equipment

While these tools aren't absolutely necessary, they will make baking a cake a ton easier. These will come in handy are an Electric Stand Mixer and a Coffee Grinder for the freshest ground coffee.

Ingredients Needed to Make Coffee Cake

Here’s what you need to make this coffee cake recipe! I’ll go over how to make the crust first, then the cake batter, and finally how to make whipped cream and assemble this yummy treat!

The Crust:

• Unsalted butter, at room temperature
• Brown sugar
• Ground coffee
• All-purpose flour
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Salt

The Cake Batter:

• Baking Soda
• Sour cream, at room temperature
• Egg, at room temperature
• Pure vanilla extract
• Crust crumbs (from above)
• Slivered almonds or chopped nuts of your choice

Do you like lemon? Why not try this lemon cake recipe? You won't regret it.

Tips and Tricks to Making the Best Cake

HOW TO MAKE the Coffee cake

• First, combine your all-purpose flour, brown sugar, butter, coffee, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in the bowl of an electric stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Cream together until mixture resembles wet sand. The brown sugar provides depth of flavour to the crust and cake.
• Pour ½ your crust crumbs into a greased pan. Firmly press crumbs down into pan using a flat glass. It’s important to press them down firmly to prevent the crust from crumbling when it’s cut in to.
• In a separate bowl stir together baking soda, sour cream, egg and ½ the crust crumbs.
• Pour cake batter over top of crust and bake for 40-45 minutes. 
• Allow the cake to cool in the pan completely before removing or serve directly in pan.

Removing the Cake from the Pan

It's always best to generously spray the bottom of your cake pan or grease it with butter and sprinkle it with flour.

Another great tip is using parchment paper to line the bottom. If you don't have round parchment paper you can take a square piece of parchment paper and fold it into four. Take the baking pan and flip it upside down. Then take the center tip of the folded piece of paper and align it with the center of the pan and cut following the edge of the pan. Unfold and see if it fits in the pan, adjust as necessary.

HOW TO MAKE THE whipped cream

• Using a stand mixer, or a medium bowl and an electric hand mixer, heavy whipping cream and sugar on high speed until it thickens (2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• You can leave the whipped cream in the bowl if you will be serving the coffee cake immediately, or you can put it into an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to save for later.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE

• Make sure your cake has fully cooled after baking before topping with whipped cream/buttercream or other fun toppings!! The last thing you want is a runny whipped cream mess before you get a chance to taste your finished product.
• Remove cake from pan and place on a serving plate.
• Place it gently on a serving tray for immediate consumption, or in a sealable container for later enjoyment!
• When you’re ready to eat the cake, place whipped cream on each individual plate. This allows for uneaten cake to be stored for later.

How to Make this Coffee Cake Recipe Different

Once you think about it, you can create unlimited combinations when making Coffee Cake. This Coffee Cake version is just the beginning, and I have several ideas for you to consider!

Coffee Cake topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream or blackberry Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.

FAQS + OTHER GREAT TIPS YOU SHOULDN’T SKIP

How do I measure my flour properly?

Do NOT use your measuring cup to scoop flour. Instead, I like to use a spoon and scoop flour into my measuring cup and then use a knife to level it off. Using the measuring cup to scoop flour packs down the flour and you’ll end up with more flour than the recipe calls for and your cake will be dry. The opposite of what we want in a good cake recipe.

Why unsalted butter?

I recommend unsalted butter for 95% of the recipes on this blog. Using salted butter will result in overly salty and not very tasty treats.

Why is my crust crunchy and dry?

Over baking will cause this, so make sure to keep a close eye while it is baking.

How long does this stay fresh?

The cake can keep fresh for 3-4 days in an airtight container at room temperature as long as you haven’t topped the entire cake with whipped cream. Cake topped with whipped cream should be eaten right away.

How to Store Coffee Cake

The cake can keep fresh for 3-4 days in an airtight container at room temperature as long as you haven’t topped the entire cake with whipped cream. Cake topped with whipped cream should be eaten right away.

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