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.
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
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Recipe
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
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I originally shared this recipe December 2016. Updated March 2020 and November 2024.
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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 🙂
Everyone LOVES this recipe.
Very good coffee cake! Not overly sweet. The batter is thick, so don’t think you left something out. The top is drier than those with lots of butter in a crumble. But my husband actually preferred this type. I made this two days in a row! I might go for three!
I substituted plain yogurt for sour cream and found 25 minutes baking time long enough. Yummy!
Overall very good. Batter was excellent. Only issue I had was that the topping was kind of dry with just nuts and sugar. I think one comment suggested adding a little melted butter over the top which would improve the end result.
Can you bake it in a bunny pan?
Yes. Grease bundt pan well, put half batter in the bottom then sprinkle on the strussle mixture
then the other batter mix on top. Then bake.
This batter is so thick and there’s not much of it. If you use a bundt pan you should double or triple the recipe.
I agree! The batter was very thick, I could barely spread it. I ended up thinning it out with some half and half. We’ll see what happens after it’s baked!
How about adding cinnamon chips?
Sure, that may be yummy 🙂
Do you think I can freeze it and then thaw over night and pop it back in oven to warm. Or how would you recommend reheating?
Hi Pam, use I would suggest freezing it, thawing it overnight in the fridge and then reheat it briefly in the oven (don’t want it to dry out), or each slice for a few seconds in the microwave. Enjoy!
Can this batter be made the night before and then bake the coffee cake in the morning?
Hi Cindy, I wouldn’t recommend that (because of the baking powder and soda in it that are activated when the wet and dry ingredients are mixed) sorry!
Super moist and delicious! My new favorite recipe. I added chopped dark chocolate to the crumb topping which took it to the next level of yummy!
Will this freeze well???
Yes, it will.