American
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
A sour cream coffee cake with a cinnamon-sugar ribbon and a buttery streusel cap. It slices cleanly once it cools, which makes it an easy brunch centerpiece.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 1 hr
- Servings
- 10
- Difficulty
- Easy
Why you’ll love it
- Sour cream is what keeps the crumb moist the next morning.
- The cinnamon layer goes in the middle so every slice has a ribbon, not just a dusty top.
- Streusel uses cold butter rubbed in, which bakes into crumbs instead of melting into a paste.
- The cake is done when the center crumb is set, not when the streusel looks brown.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
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Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square pan and line the bottom with parchment.
- 2
For the streusel, rub the 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cold butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like wet sand and small clumps.
- 3
Whisk the 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- 4
Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and sour cream.
- 5
Stir the dry mixture into the batter just until the flour disappears. Do not eat the raw batter.
- 6
Spread half the batter in the pan. Sprinkle with half the streusel. Spoon on the rest of the batter and top with the remaining streusel.
- 7
Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the cake, under the streusel, comes out clean.
- 8
Cool in the pan 20 minutes before slicing. The center finishes setting as it cools.
Pro tips
- If the top is browning hard at 30 minutes but the center is still wet, tent foil and keep baking.
- Cold butter is the streusel. Soft butter melts and disappears.
- An 8-inch pan gives a taller cake. A 9-inch pan will finish a few minutes sooner.
Easy substitutions
- sour cream
- plain whole-milk yogurt
- brown sugar
- coconut sugar
- ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
Storage and reheating
Storage
Cover and keep at room temperature up to 3 days, or refrigerate up to 5 days.
Reheating
Warm a square in a 300°F oven for 8 minutes, or microwave 15 seconds. It is also good at room temperature.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 318
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 44 g
- Fat
- 14 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
Budget friendly · Oven
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From the kitchen
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A heavy 12-inch skillet
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An air fryer with a real basket
The air-fryer recipes expect a single layer. A crowded basket steams instead of browning.
A half-sheet pan
Drumsticks, potatoes, sausage, and carrots all use one. A dark pan browns faster than a very shiny one.
A sharp chef’s knife
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A large cutting board
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Dry cups and a liquid cup
Desserts in particular expect level dry measures and a separate cup for milk.
An instant-read thermometer
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