This cinnamon crumb coffee cake is moist and light, is filled with a rich layer of cinnamon and sugar, and is topped with cinnamon streusel. It will pair perfectly with your morning coffee!

Welcome to my first new recipe of 2020! This coffee cake is the perfect pick-me-up and will satisfy your sweets craving without being too over the top in richness. The cake is butter-based, which gives it a perfect thick texture, and the filling and topping add just the right amount of sweetness. This recipe is broken into three parts, but easily be thrown together in less than a half hour. Pop it in the oven for 40 minutes and you’re done!

This recipe originally comes from the GoGoGourmet blog (linked here), and I have made just a few adjustments to the cake and the filling.

For this recipe, I used Wilton’s brownie pan (linked here). There is enough batter to fill the 12 cavities, and they are the perfect single-serving size. If you don’t have this pan, you could use an 8×8 pan, 3-4 mini loaf pans, or a muffin tin (which would make 14-16) smaller servings.

Additional tips for this recipe:

Grease the pan well! When you’re ready to remove the coffee cake from the pan, just run a butter knife around edges and lift it out. If it appears to break and separate at the filling, just carefully remove the entire cake and put it back together.
Use a cookie dough scoop to ensure accurate scoops in each cavity (if you aren’t using an 8×8 pan).
If you’re having difficulty spreading the batter over the filling, grease the back of a spoon or spatula and use that to evenly spread the remaining batter throughout the pan.
Use SOFTENED butter. This means that touching the butter would easily create an indent, but it hasn’t melted. Softened butter not only will give you the best cake consistency when creaming it with the sugar, but it is also best to use for the topping and filling so that you can easily combine it with your dry ingredients.
Don’t be afraid to use your hands to mix the filling and topping. I have found that the easiest way to combine the dry ingredients with the butter is to mix with your fingers to make sure that the butter is appropriately dispersed.
Careful not to over-bake it! Once you see the edges just starting to brown, remove the coffee cake from the oven and let it rest.

Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake

his cinnamon crumb coffee cake is moist and light, and is filled with a rich layer of cinnamon and sugar and topped with cinnamon streusel. It will pair perfectly with your morning coffee!

Print Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 15

Servings 12 pieces

Ingredients

For the cake

½ cup unsalted butter softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt

For the filling

6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
¾ cup all-purpose flour sifted
¾ cup light brown sugar packed
1½ tablespoons ground cinnamon

For the crumb topping

5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
¾ cup all-purpose flour sifted
½ cup light brown sugar packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare your baking tins by thoroughly greasing them, set aside.

To make the cake

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, beat until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt).
Add half of dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix until combined.
Add half of the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, then the remaining milk. Mixing after each addition.
Set mixture aside while you prepare the filling.

To make the filling

Whisk together flour, cinnamon and brown sugar.
Cut in the softened butter with a fork or your fingers. Work until mixture is crumbly.
Spread half of the cake batter throughout the greased baking tin, then sprinkle all of the filling over it.
Top with the remaining cake batter and spread evenly, completely covering all of the filling with batter.

To make the topping

Using the same bowl that was used for the filling (if desired, since ingredients were the same), whisk together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Cut in softened butter using a fork or your fingers. Pinch mixture together to form some larger pieces (to resemble a streusel topping) and sprinkle over the top of the batter to generously cover the entire pan.
Bake for 35-45 minutes (baking time will depend on your pan), or until edges just begin to brown.
Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature before removing the cakes from the pan. Use a butter knife to loosen the edges if needed.