Everyday Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Fluffy sour cream butter cake with a sweet gooey cinnamon swirl in the center and a thick layer of cinnamon brown sugar crumble on top.
Servings 1 9 inch cake
Equipment
- 9 inch square cake pan, metal do not use an 8 inch cake pan - the cake won't fit
Ingredients
Filling
- 50g or ¼ cup fine granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Streusel
- 170g or 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 50g or ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 50g or ¼ cup fine granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon ground
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 113g or ½ cup butter unsalted and softened
Cake
- 226g or 1 cup unsalted butter cold is fine
- 200g or 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 180g or ¾ cup full fat sour cream greek yogurt will work too
- 250g or 2 cups cake flour sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Instructions
Make the filling
- In a small bowl stir together the sugars, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Make the topping
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Slice the softened butter and add it to the bowl then use your fingers to work it into the flour mixture, pressing the butter into small bits that coat all the flour. When you can squeeze any part of the mix in your palm and it clumps, it’s done. Set in the fridge to chill while you make the cake batter.
Make the cake
- Note: The eggs should be at room temperature before starting.
- Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan and preheat the oven to 350F. You can also bake it at 325 F so it rises more evenly but it will take longer - always check the cake for doneness.
- Set the butter in a large bowl and cover it with a microwave plate (this protects the butter from sputtering out). Microwave it for 90 seconds, until it has melted.
- Add the sugar to the bowl and whisk well. As you whisk, add the salt and vanilla.
- One by one, add the warm eggs to the bowl, whisking after each egg addition. You should have a creamy mixture once all the eggs are in. Sift the flour over the mixture and add the baking powder and the sour cream. Whisk the batter until there are no unmixed flour or sour cream bits.
- Pour a little over ⅔ of the batter into the prepared cake pan. Sprinkle the sugar over the batter in an even layer, do it slowly so that all of the cake batter is covered. Then dollop the remaining cake batter on top to cover the cinnamon sugar and use an offset spatula to smooth it over. It’s ok if some of the sugar mixes with the batter, do your best!
- Over the second layer of cake batter, sprinkle the streusel topping on top so it covers all of the cake.
- Set the cake in the oven to bake, it’s done when a cake tester comes out clean of cake batter: around 50-60 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan, then slice. Store leftovers in an airtight container.