This, my friends is the be all and end all of coffee cake recipes. Seriously- if you are a fan of cinnamon-y, crumbly, moist (sorry for the use of that word) and addicting coffee cake- look no further. I can tell you with all sorts of certainty that this is the best. (Wow- that sounds like a sales pitch.)
What makes it so great you may ask? Well the original recipe is from King Arthur’s Flour- and their stuff is always good. This one though, needed a few minor adjustments to make it perfect. The cake contains rich greek yogurt which which results in the perfect texture. The filling is loaded with cinnamon, and the crumbly top is sugary-cinnamony bliss. In short- this cake is my few favorite thing to enjoy with coffee.
The reason I wanted to make this coffee cake in the first place is that a friend had recently mentioned how good the cinnamon coffee cake is at Starbucks of all places. I knew that a homemade version would obviously be better so I went on a search of the perfect recipe. Just to be fair- I sampled a piece of the Starbucks version last week to do a little compare and contrast. Obviously homemade is always better, but I had to check just to make sure. Luckily my pretty little piece of cake won in all the major categories. (And I’m not biased at all I swear!) :)
PS- Thank you all so much for entering my blogaversary giveaway and for the wonderful and kind comments. I really can’t tell you how much it means to me. :)
Ingredients
- Streusel topping:
- 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- pinch of salt (if you use unsalted butter)
- 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- Filling:
- 1 cup brown sugar, light or dark
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (for color not for taste- you can leave it out if you want.)
- Cake:
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon salt (1 ¼ teaspoons if you use unsalted butter)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt. (regular yogurt would also be ok.)
- 1 1/4 cups milk (anything from skim to whole)
- 3 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.
- Make the topping by whisking together the sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter, stirring till well combined. Set the topping aside.
- Make the filling by mixing together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Set it aside.
- To make the cake: In a large bowl, beat together the butter, salt, sugars, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined and smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk till well combined. You don't need to whisk out all the lumps.
- Add the flour to the butter mixture alternately with the milk/yogurt mixture, beating gently to combine.
- Pour/spread half the batter (about 3 cups) into the prepared pan(s), spreading all the way to the edges. If you're using two 9" round pans, spread 1 1/3 cups batter in each pan.
- Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.
- Gently spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.
- Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.
- Bake the cake until it's a dark golden brown around the edges; medium-golden with no light patches showing on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the 9" x 13" pan, 50 to 55 minutes for the 9" round pans. When pressed gently in the middle, the cake should spring back.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve cake right from the pan.
Notes
If you wanna make this ahead of time for a brunch or something just cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Bake as directed, but you may need to add 5 mins extra or so since the batter will be cold!
Recipe adapted from: King Arthur’s Flour
Just wanted to let you know I found this recipe as I was browsing through stuble upon. I knew I had to try it right away. It came out amazing! My friends loved it!
So, all the way from Israel, thank you for this amazing recipe!
I made this yesterday for Mother’s Day and it was great! I cut the sugar in the cake part since the filling and topping were so sweet and I’m glad I did – it was still plenty sweet but not overly so. I also only had Vanilla Greek yogurt so I used that and even with the same amt of vanilla extract it wasn’t overpowering. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave feedback Julia! I’m glad you liked it! :)
Hi there I am so thrilled I found your web site, I really found you by mistake, while
I was researching on Digg for something else, Regardless I am here
now and would just like to say thank you for a fantastic post
and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but
I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to
read more, Please do keep up the excellent jo.
I only had Vanilla yogurt so I swapped that in for the Greek yogurt and it was delicious!
I’m so glad it worked for you! :)
Has anyone reduced the sugar content? I am looking for a coffee cake recipe and am afraid that this might be too overly sweet for everyone in the office. Typically when a recipe calls for an overabundance of sugar I will cut the sugar ratio is half or 3/4 per 1 cup etc. This sound so delish. . .
I have a cake in the oven as we speak! These 55min will be longest of my life! It smells amazing!
Hola there from Puerto Vallarta Mexico. So I made the coffee cake. Now being in Mexico and altitudes and humidity coming into play, I found the cake a bit stodgy. Also a notch too sweet and I am a sweet tooth. My cinnamon was either past its sell by date or a milder version.
I followed the recipe to the letter. It taste great, looks amazing and I will most definitely try it again. Will buy fresher cinnamon. Thanking you for a great recipe
Coffee cake in oven s I’m typing. I’m in Mexico right now and will be until end April. Wanted to try a coffee cake, never have. Will post pics and comment when i done .
Audra, thank you so so so much for posting this recipe! I’ve been looking for a good cinnamon coffee cake recipe for quite a while… and this is the best ever! I just finished batch number 1, and my family is begging me to bake another tonight. I love your blog– very inspiring! Thanks so much!
this is great! i would also like to add that the store-brand at Publix Grocery has a fat-free-yogurt in the cinnamon bun flavor and it adds an extra cinnamon-y flavor.
Can you make it in a Bundt pan? If so, how long should you cook it?
So delicious, my husband couldn’t get enough!
Great idea- I sure always need to minimize dirty dishes!
I’m so glad you liked this recipe as much as I did! I agree this would be a wonderful Christmas morning treat!
My family loved it! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I made it the night before and baked it in the morning. Perfect! This will be a new favorite added to Christmas morning traditions.
thanks I am going to have to try this, I have had the cinnamon cake at Starbucks so this will be fun to test
I made this last night and it turned out great. Very moist, tastes delicious… I’m beyond pleased! Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe with us. All the best, Leila1949
Wow! A friend of mine has a love of cinnamon, so I went on a search for a homemade cinnamon cake recipe. After a few websites of ”meh” seeming recipes, lo and behold I disocvered yours! I’m incredibly antsy to try it (just as soon as I pick up more brown sugar) and I’m sure the results will turn out beautifully :) A quick question, I can get King Arthur flour, but would cake flour also work? Just a thought :) Thanks for posting such a wonderful recipe!
Just made this last night,used buttermilk instead of milk yummy. Better than starbucks will save the 3 bucks for latte. Margaret
Delish! Made this tonight and it was a great hit! Did not vary your recipe except to simplify dirty dishes. Use a gallon ziploc bag to mix crumb topping and another for brown sugar filling. Use a glass 2 cup measuring cup for the milk and greek yogurt. Pour in your 1 1/4 cup milk and then add yogurt or sour cream to the 2 cup mark. Whisk in that cup before adding to batter. Simple and fabulous!
Just put mine in the oven, keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out as yummy as yours looks. :)
I just made my first Coffee cake the other day – and followed up with this recipe today. My only complaint is the sheer number of dishes I had to wash after making this work of deliciousness, which was well worth it. The cake is very moist, presentation is great and it’s fun to make with kids.
So happy to hear it turned out well for you!
Hooray! I’m glad you liked it as much as I did :)
I’m so glad to hear that! :)
My four year old and I made this tonight. Absolutely the very best I’ve ever had. My other used to make a version with sour cream, but this version with Greek yogurt is even better. The tiny hint of chocolate flavor in the filling adds a nice subtle flavor too. Wonderful!
I just made this this afternoon, and ate a huge piece just a few minutes ago. This is by far the most delicious coffee cake I have ever made/eaten and I’ve been doing that for over 45 years. I didn’t have any Greek yogurt so I used sour cream in its place. Just wonderful!
Made this last Sunday for my husbamd’s tennis quadrangle using whole meal flour for the streusel toppings. It was a big hit! Thanks for sharing.
Wow. I’m very much speechless, except for WOW. This look like perfection.
Wow, this coffee cake puts any cafe’s version to shame… beautiful!
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.com/
I love coffee cake its delicious! and this one looks great!!
Well, I believe that every cake with cinnamon is a good cake. :) I like this one because it looks like it’s came out of grandma’s kitchen.
Oh boy – I think this will be my end-all, yes. Looks perfect and crumbly and sweet and mmmmm. :)
Wow – it looks amazing! Your photos are stunning….I want to reach right through my computer!
Whoa there. I’ll take a slice… or 5. Great post! Definitely deserving of top 9. Anything with a streusal topping is A-OK in my book!
I LOVE coffee cake! This sounds right up my alley! My girls would adore this!!
Yes !! I made this recipe and it is very, very good !! the texture is wonderful!!!
My family loves it!
That does look delicious, although I admire your restraint cutting it into such small slices :)
I adore a good cinnamon coffee cake thanks for my already abundant weekend to do list!
This was wonderful! I only made some adjustment because it was what I had on hand and was recipe “approved” ;)
I used plain yogurt instead of Greek. Plain (light) soy milk instead of milk. I mixed up some agave/honey within the sugars of the fillings/toppings/cake.
Dang good stuff!
Wow this looks amazing! Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon tea break. Congrats on the Foodbuzz top 9 and on your blogaversary.
I have been eyeballing a recipe in one of my classic cookbooks for a cinnamon streusel coffee cake probably since I got the book years ago, and I realized after reading your most, I’m not sure why I haven’t made it yet! Maybe there was something weird about the book’s recipe. When I get home, I am going to take a look and compare, then get baking! Thanks for the inspiration!
This dessert looks great! I would love it if you linked up this recipe to my blog hop for a chance to win a cookbook prize package: http://bit.ly/wJSl1h
Made this last night and it is simply delightful! Thank you so much for my new favorite coffee cake recipe! :)
Thanks so much for sharing. After I go on my 17 day diet…I will have to make this to celebrate my weight loss. Love the fact that it doesn’t have nuts…Both my kids are allergic. The cake is the perfect texture…I want to snatch it off the screen
I’ve have baked this soooo many times and I absolutely love this recipe. In fact baked it just yesterday for a friend, will be posting next week! Yours look gorgeous! What I particularly love about this recipe is the cocoa filling. :)
Wow! It does look like the perfect coffee cake! I love the cinnamony filling & that streusel topping… Yum! Thanks for sharing :)
Definitely doing to try this! I love coffee cake, and so does my 6 year old, I am sure this will be a hit!
Yum :) I love coffee cake but find it so hard to find a good coffee cake and even harder to make :) This sounds delicious ~ Thanks for sharing!
Coffee cake with crumb topping is one of my favorite treats! Yours looks amazing.
oh yummy!!!!
http://www.lifeofamodernhousewife.com
I love the layer of cinnamon in the center!
Yummy, looks delicious! I am always looking for a new and maybe even better coffee cake recipe, will have to try!
Oh can I have a slice?:))) I love the recipe and how it looks..yummy!!!!
Crumbly loveliness!!
I’ve been on a search for the best coffee cake. I’ve truly made quite a few, so I can’t wait to try your recipe!
That line of cinnamon looks SO amazing! I wish I had a slice of this right now. I’m yet to make a coffee cake but I’m going to now & I’m definitely using this recipe. Yum!
Oh wow, this looks absolutely amazing. It makes me crazy when someone says “oh I just looove the whatever at whatever chain restaurant”. I always have to prove them wrong too. Way to go!
This cake looks sooooo good. I love any baked good that includes Greek yogurt. It makes everything delicious!
add some pecans, and you have coffee cake heaven!
As far as I am concerned the more cinnamon the better, so I am quite delighted that this cake has a layer inside as well as on top-yum! This on is not just for breakfast either-an afternoon snack or after dinner treat. Thanks for posting this!
Wow, Audra! This looks so moist and perfectly crumbly. I love coffee cake and I love the look of yours. I’ll have to try it sometime. Thanks for sharing!
I always put sour cream in my coffee cake but the Greek yogurt sounds like a perfect swap. This looks amazing!
I love Starbucks’ coffee cake also!!! This def. looks like it will be an even better version that I can make myself (which is always preferable to buying anyway)-yay! Thanks!
I could tell even from the first picture that this would be the perfect coffee cake, it looks amazing! I love the cinnamon ribbon in the middle :)
Coffee cake has such a place in my heart. It’s true comfort sugar to me!