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Breakfast dreams are made of classic sour cream coffee cake! Golden, buttery, and so delicious, this homemade coffee cake is piled high with cinnamon streusel topping and drizzled with vanilla glaze. Made with sour cream (for richness) and buttermilk (for tang and a tender crumb), each bite is perfectly moist. Recipe makes one 9-inch coffee cake.
If you’re hosting weekend brunch or simply baking for a crowd, this is the coffee cake for you. It’s made up of 3 delicious parts (the streusel, the cake, and the vanilla glaze) and a reader-favorite recipe! Full photo guidance provided below.
- Streusel – Made with melted butter, the brown sugar pecan streusel is simply irresistible! Half the streusel is layered with the cake batter to form a ribbon running throughout the coffee cake. The remaining streusel is sprinkled over the top of the cake batter and bakes up beautifully golden.
- Coffee Cake – Sour cream, buttermilk, and an extra egg yolk ensure a golden and tender crumb. If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can also use full fat Greek yogurt as an equal swap. Pure vanilla extract adds rich flavor to the buttery cake!
- Glaze – A drizzle of sweet vanilla glaze dresses up this classic brunch recipe.
Craving more coffee cake? You may also love my sour cream coffee cake muffins!
Success Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients: Bring cake ingredients (butter, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, and buttermilk) to room temperature before beginning to ensure that they mix together uniformly.
- Baking pan: You’ll need a 9-inch springform pan for this recipe. This is my preferred pan to use for coffee cake because it’s easy to slice and cleanly remove wedges from the pan and the thick streusel topping remains in place.
- Prepare the pan: Spread a thin layer of softened butter across the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Add a small amount of flour (about 1 tablespoon) and gently shake the pan to coat the bottom and sides evenly. Invert the pan and tap out any excess flour.
- Mix the batter just until combined: Made in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, the sour cream batter comes together smoothly and is the perfect base for buttery streusel. Expect a thick batter, similar to my New York style crumb cake.
How to Make Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Make streusel topping: Combine all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together to combine.
Add melted butter to the bowl and mix in with a fork until completely incorporated and streusel is crumbly.
Add finely chopped pecans (or chopped walnuts) and stir to combine. Chill pecan streusel in the freezer until needed.
Make coffee cake: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time and beat well to combine.
Combine sour cream and buttermilk in a small bowl. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream mixture (begin and end with flour mixture).
Assemble coffee cake: Spoon half the batter into prepared baking pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Tap pan sharply to remove air bubbles. Sprinkle the batter with half of the chilled streusel.
Top streusel layer with remaining batter. Smooth coffee cake batter with a spatula and tap pan sharply.
Sprinkle the top evenly with remaining chilled streusel. Bake coffee cake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached.
Transfer coffee cake to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes before removing the sides from the pan. Cool for at least 1 hour before glazing and serving.
Storage and Freezing Tips
Store the baked coffee cake at room temperature for up to 2 days, or wrap well with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate up to 4 days. Reheat coffee cake in a warm oven (300-325°F) before serving.
To freeze leftover coffee cake, wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap and pop into a freezer bag for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to enjoy, reheat in a warm oven (325°F) for 15 minutes or until heated through before serving.
Our best coffee cake recipes:
- Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake
- Caramel Apple Coffee Cake
- Brown Butter Coffee Cake
- Apricot Almond Coffee Cake
- Berry Streusel Coffee Cake
Did you try this Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe? Let me know by leaving a comment and rating below!
Print
Ultra Moist Sour Cream Coffee Cake
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch coffee cake
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
The BEST classic sour cream coffee cake! Topped with brown sugar pecan streusel and drizzled with vanilla glaze, you’ll love this sour cream coffee cake for breakfast or brunch. Recipe makes one 9-inch coffee cake.
Ingredients
Streusel
- 1 1/4 cups (175 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (185 g) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp (4 g) cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) salt
- 10 Tbsp (140 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (60 g) pecans, finely chopped
Cake
- 2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp (7 g) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) baking soda
- 1/2 tsp (3 g) salt
- 10 Tbsp (140 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp (8 g) vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs (100 g), at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk (17 g), at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (300 g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80 g) low-fat buttermilk, at room temperature
Vanilla Glaze
- 1 Tbsp (14 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp (4 g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp (30 g) milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
- Make streusel: Whisk together flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Add melted butter and mix in with a fork until completely incorporated and streusel is crumbly. Stir in pecans. Chill topping in the freezer until ready to use.
- Make coffee cake: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large mixer bowl at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolk one at a time and beat well. Combine sour cream and buttermilk in a small bowl. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream mixture (begin and end with flour mixture).
- Spoon half the batter into prepared pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle evenly with half of the chilled streusel. Spoon remaining batter evenly over streusel layer. Gently smooth and tap the pan sharply to reduce air bubbles. Sprinkle evenly with remaining chilled streusel.
- Bake coffee cake for 40 minutes, then tent loosely with foil to prevent over-browning. Continue baking another 25 to 35 minutes (for a total of 65 to 75 minutes) or until topping is golden, cake springs back to the touch and a tester emerges with a few crumbs attached. Coffee cake is done baking when the internal temperature reaches 210°F.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes before removing sides from pan; cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
- Make glaze: Whisk together melted butter, salt, vanilla, powdered sugar, and milk in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze over coffee cake and let set before serving.
- Store baked coffee cake at room temperature for up to 2 days, or wrap well and refrigerate up to 4 days. Reheat coffee cake in a warm oven (300°F) before serving.
Notes
Streusel: This recipe makes a generous amount of streusel topping. If you like a coffee cake with less streusel, or have any leftover streusel, transfer to a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Use the leftover streusel to top muffins or a quick bread.
Sour cream: Full fat Greek yogurt can also be used as an equal swap for the sour cream.
Freeze coffee cake: Wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap and pop into a freezer bag for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to enjoy, reheat in a warm oven (325°F) for 15 minutes or until heated through before serving.
Hi! Could you make this in a Bundt cake pan?
Hi Karine, I haven’t tested this in a bundt pan so I’m unsure of the impact on the streusel topping/ribbon, and overall texture of the cake. If you don’t have a springform pan, then I suggest baking my brown butter coffee cake (uses an 8-inch square pan) or my snickerdoodle bundt cake instead. Hope that helps!
Absolutely divine! Such good flavor! Next time I would just half the streusel amount as I found it a bit rich, and couldn’t eat as much as I’d like (maybe that’s a good thing). Divine!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Raadhiya!
I’d like to try this tomorrow morning. I longer that it’s a 9-inch layer and not a huge Bundt cake version! Have you tried this with gluten -free flour? I’m trying out gluten free, as I’m having some issues and want to see if it makes a difference for me. Thanks in advance!
Hi Laura, I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour. However, it should work fine with a 1-to-1 (also labeled as cup for cup or measure for measure) gluten-free baking flour. Hope that helps!
I made both this coffee cake and the 8-inch square pan one, they are both really delicious.
This is truly the only coffee cake recipe you need.
I am not a great fan of strudel so I cut it in half and it was just perfect for me and my family!
Also, I used bob’s read mill gluten free 1-1 baking flour (in the blue bag) and I didn’t have any issues at all with the conversion!
That’s wonderful to hear, thank you Martina! 🙂
hello, Can you use full fat buttermilk – I don’t have low fat? thanks
Hi Michelle, yes you can. Happy baking!
Do I need to let the cake cool before I add the glaze? It might be a stupid question, but I’m not very experienced with making cake. Please help!
Hi Abigail, let the coffee cake cool completely before glazing. 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I took a picture but can’t seem to post it here. Everyone raved! 🙂 Thank you!
I’ve wanted to make this coffee cake for months after seeing it on the Tutti Dolci IG account; I finally made it during a vacation this week. It was SOOO delicious! I made the cake at ~10,000 ft and did not adjust for elevation other than increasing bake temp 25 degrees. The cake was slightly dense but I don’t know if that was due to elevation or the fact I used some ingredients cold. Was scrumptious nonetheless and I will make again.
Can I use a muffin pan or even a 9×13 pan to make muffins or squares?
Hi Jasmine! I’d try this recipe, created for an 8-inch square baking pan, and can be doubled for a 9×13-inch pan: https://tutti-dolci.com/brown-butter-cinnamon-streusel-coffee-cake/
This coffee cake is moist, with a tender yet sturdy crumb. Using both buttermilk and sour cream in the cake is truly inspired — such a nice tang that plays against the sweet. Yum. The streusel is delicious! The recipe makes a generous amount and I left some chunky pieces, which I love. So good! Thank you, thank you.
Pam
Hi Pam, I’m so happy to hear this coffee cake was such a hit! 🙂