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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 🙂
Making this recipe has been on my to do list for about 6 months! I finally made it a few weeks ago and it was perfect! Everything I expected it to be. I doubled the batch and made it in a 9×13 pan. The flavor was delicious and it was great to snack on throughout the day. It kept well in a covered baking dish sitting on the counter for a couple days, until it was all gone.
This tastes great, however I have no idea how anyone could make this work in an 8×8 inch pan. I had to double it because it hardly filled the bottom.
This was the first time I made this coffee cake and it was really delicious. I received many compliments.
I doubled the recipe per your instructions for a 9×13 baking sheet. I have a question though: is the dough supposed to be so thick or did I do something wrong? It was not easy spreading the second layer of dough, it was sticking to the topping mix. Also, the cake was a little crumbling, it was ok but not moist. I used greek yoghurt instead of sour cream, would that be the reason for not being moist. I used the other ingredients exactly per your recipe.
So Delicious! I made mine with self rising flour and it did great! So light in the middle and crispy on top! I will definitely make this again!!😍
Have this is the oven now. I love this website and every meal my family has DEVOURED!! I had to add some milk to this recipe to make it more of a batter and less of a sticky dough. But it smells delicious!!
Very good and husband approved! I love that this is a small batch recipe. I cut it into 9 small pieces and it lasted us 4 days. Especially good with some vanilla ice cream. Yum! The batter is thick and not easy to spread. (I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream though) I was worried that there wasn’t enough batter since I couldn’t get it to cover all of the baking pan–there was a half inch gap on the sides for me. But once it puffed up in the oven that was no problem at all. Try it, you won’t regret.
How would you change the recipe and baking time to make this as muffins?
Easy and my kids loved it. Usually they don’t like coffee cake. Will definitely make again
Hi,
I’d love to make this recipe but my mother does not like cinnamon, do you think I could replace it with cardamom?
Thanks,
Harshita
Sure, if you prefer that flavor.
Loved this little coffee cake. The drier crumble (sans butter) was crispy crunchy in a very nice contrast/complimentary way to the soft buttery cake. I liked the 8 x 8 pan size too. Great recipe. Thank you for sharing💕