Best Ever Sour Cream Coffee Cake
This Cinnamon Walnut Sour Cream Coffee Cake is not only incredibly easy to make, it’s absolutely delicious! A tender crumb cake with cinnamon streusel topping and a walnut brown sugar filling! You wont be able to stop after just one piece.
Nothing says brunch like sour cream coffee cake with streusel topping! Honestly, a few bites of this and you will never want to make any other homemade breakfast again! If you love breakfast/brunch recipes, you may also like Cinnamon Roll Baked Oats, Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Sheet Pan Pancakes, or my Superfood Protein Breakfast Cookies. These are also all healthier versions of your favourite breakfast foods!
This cinnamon coffee cake is perfect for Christmas morning. My family calls it my Christmas morning coffee cake because I love making it Christmas morning for everyone! It’s something easy that you can prep ahead, and that will feed everyone without having to make three or four different dishes. When you don’t feel like dirtying three frying pans, Christmas coffee cake to the rescue!
Table of Contents
WHY IS IT CALLED EASY COFFEE CAKE?
Coffee cake is a term given to foods that are intended to be eaten with coffee, or other brunch type foods. There is typically no coffee in the actual cake, it is usually a sweet cake with streusel of some sort, or icing sugar. It’s literally just cake for coffee.
THE INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR THE BEST SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
- butter
- brown sugar
- white sugar
- white flour
- cinnamon
- walnuts
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- baking powder
- salt
- low fat sour cream
THE BEST COFFEE CAKE RECIPE WITH SOUR CREAM
Streusel – Made with melted butter, the brown sugar streusel is simply irresistible! A portion of the streusel is layered with the cake batter to form a ribbon running throughout the coffee cake. The remaining streusel is sprinkled over the top of the cake batter and bakes up beautifully golden.
Walnut Sugar Filling – The walnuts add a nice crunch to the cake! Mixed in with the streusel, it’s a match made in heaven!
Cake – Sour cream, more butter, and two large eggs ensure a golden and tender crumb for this coffee cake. Full fat Greek yogurt can also be used as an equal swap for the sour cream. Pure vanilla extract adds rich flavour to the buttery cake! The streusel, delicious walnut filling, and moist cake all combined makes for the best sour cream coffee cake recipe!
HOW TO MAKE THIS OLD FASHIONED SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
You guys this sour cream cinnamon coffee cake is INSANE. I love it so much! This is another one of my grandmother’s old recipes (I should almost just start a tab on my website for her). I made her recipe several times, making little tweaks every time, and finally nailed it! Coffee cake has no coffee in it, it’s a basic yellow cake with a layer of cinnamon walnut sugar and a delicious streusel topping, meant to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee. Or with a glass of milk, if you’re not a coffee drinker.
Here is how this delicious cake recipe is going down.
First make a ridiculous amount of streusel. It’s got a lot of butter in it. This is not an apology. It’s cake, you guys. Embrace it! Use cold butter. I tried a few versions with cold butter cut in with a pastry cutter, and trust me, for this recipe, it works better than melted butter to get the crumbliest streusel! Then set aside the streusel in the fridge to chill.
Mix together all the ingredients for the walnut sugar filling. Set aside. Then mix together the cake, making sure you do not over mix the batter.
Spoon half the batter for this homemade coffee cake into the pan and spread it out with a spatula. Sprinkle the walnut sugar filling over the batter, and approximately 1/3 of the streusel topping. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top.
(Pro tip on the batter-spreading: Since the batter is fairly sticky, it can be a little difficult to spread. So I recommend adding it to the pan in small clumps, then spreading it around with a rubber spatula until smooth and even. And if the batter is sticking to your rubber spatula too much, just spray it with some cooking spray!)
CAN I FREEZE THIS MOIST SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE?
This cake is best made in the morning of or even the night before. Store it on the countertop for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It does dry out easily so it tastes best made fresh! It can also be kept in the freezer to maintain optimal freshness!
You could easily create other delicious variations for this cinnamon coffee cake with sour cream. By adding blueberries you’d make blueberry sour cream coffee cake, or cranberries for a cranberry coffee cake with sour cream. Another flavourful option would be adding chocolate chips for a chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake – that might be my favourite option!
Though I have not tested it, you could try using 1:1 gluten free baking flour for a gluten free sour cream coffee cake. Remember when measuring gluten free flour to spoon it out of the container, rather than scooping your measuring cup right in. This will help avoid adding too much flour to the cinnamon coffee cake with sour cream, so it won’t dry out.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe
This Cinnamon Walnut Sour Cream Coffee Cake is not only incredibly easy to make, it’s absolutely delicious! A tender crumb cake with cinnamon streusel topping and a walnut brown sugar filling! You wont be able to stop after just one piece.
Ingredients
FOR STREUSEL TOPPING
- 5 tbsp butter, cold
- 3/4 cups white flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
FOR WALNUT SUGAR FILLING
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
FOR THE CAKE
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup low fat sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x9 inch cake pan with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.
- For the streusel - using a pastry cutter or fork, combine the cold butter, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. You should end up with a bowl of what looks like wet sand, with lots of big chunks. Don't try to smooth it out. Put in fridge to chill.
- For the walnut sugar filling - combine the walnuts, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- For the cake - In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar fitted with the paddle attachment for 2 to 3 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, add half the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Then add in the sour cream. Finish by adding the remaining flour mixture and stir with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.
- Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a spatula or knife. Sprinkle the walnut sugar filling over the batter, and approximately 1/3 of the streusel topping. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Sprinkle with icing sugar and devour!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Other Christmas Morning Breakfast Ideas You May Want To Try
Healthy Banana Bread Cookies (Vegan & Gluten Free)
3 Ingredient Gluten Free Bagel Bites
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR CREATIONS! YOU CAN PIN THIS RECIPE ON PINTEREST OR SHARE ON INSTAGRAM BY TAGGING @basicswithbails and #basicswithbails
About Bailey
I love to bake, cook, exercise, and document all of the above. Nutrition is not low fat. It is not low calorie. It’s not feeling deprived or being hungry all the time. It’s nourishing your body with real, whole foods so that you are consistently satisfied and energized to live your life to the fullest! Read more…
Hi there!
When do you add the other half of the walnut filling?
Thanks!