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This moist Sour Cream Coffee Cake only takes 15 minutes to prep and is sweet and delicious with the crunchy cinnamon pecan streusel. Enjoy it for brunch, with coffee, or dessert.
If you love sweet brunch recipes try our Sheet Pan Pancakes, French Toast Casserole, Homemade Scones, or Hawaiian French Toast Casserole.
Simple, delicious Coffee Cake.
I am going to say it – this is the BEST Coffee Cake recipe! The cake is soft and moist, and not only does it have a crunchy cinnamon pecan streusel on top, but we even layer it in the middle of the cake! Serve it with a cup of hot tea of coffee, or a side of fruit, for the perfect easy weekend brunch! We serve coffee cake most often at brunch, holidays and special occasions.
How to make Coffee Cake:
Make Batter: Cream together sugar and butter then mix in egg, sour cream, milk, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix just until combined.
Layer: Combine all of the ingredients for the pecan topping in a bowl. Grease an 8×8 square baking dish then pour in half of the cake batter. Sprinkle half of the pecan topping over the batter then repeat with the rest of the cake batter and sprinkle the rest of the pecan topping on top.
Bake: Preheat to 350°F then bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Check it halfway through and lay a piece of aluminum foil loosely on top if it's getting too brown. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.
Make Ahead And Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Coffee cake is best served the same day, but you can make it in the morning or even the night before. Store covered at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To Freeze: Allow coffee cake to cool completely, cover tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
More Sweet Brunch Recipes:
- Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Apple Coffee Cake
- Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Blueberry Muffins
- Blintzes
- Snickerdoodle Muffins
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Topping:
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans, , finely chopped
Instructions
- Lightly grease an 8×8 inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Crumble topping: Combine flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Add butter and cut in with forks or a pastry blender until there are no large pieces. Stir in nuts.
- Batter: In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg and mix. Add sour cream, milk, and vanilla then mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture then mix just until combined.
- Assemble: Spoon half of the batter into your prepared pan and smooth into an even bottom layer. Sprinkle half of the topping mixture over the top. Spoon remaining batter on top then smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle remaining topping mixture over the top.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with few crumbs. Check it half way through baking and cover with a piece of aluminum foil if browning too much.
- Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe December 2016. Updated March 2020 and November 2024.
WOW!!! This coffee cake is out of this world!
I doubled the recipe and baked in a 9×9 pan. It did take a tad longer to bake (about an hour in all). I saw lots of comments saying this coffee cake was too dense, but I did not seem to have this problem. A trick I found to work well to avoid this issue is beating the butter and sugar for upwards fo 5 minutes to really incorporate some air.
Also, the sour cream keeps it so moist and adds a delicious tang to a sweet dessert!
Highly Recommend 🙂
I used almonds and blueberries. Yum! Love the eas of this recipe. Thank you!
Just made this tonight. It was so good!
But I noticed that when I took it out of the oven the topping looked a little dry, so I spooned about 2 tbsp of melted salted butter over the top of the cake while still hot to melt the sugar, then let cool to almost room temp before cutting into it. It added another fantastic element to this cake!
Can I use unsalted butter?
Sure! Just add a little pinch of salt to the recipe 🙂
Very good-used to cook something like it at a hotel I worked at. could use just a touch more liquid in the batter but worked fine as is- used half the nuts and it was plenty for my crowd. Forty minutes was perfect in a 9 inch round in my oven
Hi, the cake is delicious, thanks.
Im finding it didn’t fill the entire bottom of the 8 x 8 pan. I’d like a little more batter, but baking it now.
I had trouble spreading the top layer of batter over the pecan mixture. My batter turned out pretty stiff. Baking it now–smells sooo good.
Hi Jane, the batter is pretty thick. I just dallop it around the top and then try to gently spread it. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Hope you enjoyed it!
Step 7 is confusing. Should it not be topping first in the bottom of the pan, then batter then remaining topping? It reads batter, topping, topping.
Hi Sue, the batter goes first, then topping, more batter, and then the rest of the topping.
That’s if you bake it in a bundt cake pan.
This is absolutely perfect – sweet, coffee and creamy!
My mom made this all the time when I was growing up and I make it a lot. It is simply delicious! It stays moist for days and can be heated in the oven or microwave making it even more wonderful! Thanks for sharing this recipe – I think I’ll make one this weekend!