I took those warm and fuzzy flavors, and baked them into this coffee cake.
The cake is soft and fluffy, with a slightly crunchy topping, and the drippy glaze seals the deal. Between the cinnamon-and-sugar laden cake batter, the buttery brown sugar topping, and the vanilla cream cheese glaze, it’s my idea of the perfect coffee cake. Take that, Entenmann’s.
I made the cake, using my favorite foolproof, one-bowl, easy cake base. It comes together with a whisk, no mixer needed, and is simple enough to be made at a moment’s notice. I made a Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake along these lines last year, and it’s been very popular with readers, but this one is even easier and more streamlined. I love to bake because it’s a creative outlet and it helps me relax, but only if the recipe isn’t overly complicated or fussy, and this coffee cake starts with a bowl of dry ingredients and a bowl of wet. Pour the wet over the dry, stir, pour into a pan, top with the brown sugar mixture, and bake. Nice and easy.
Since I loathe dry coffee cake, I used a trifecta of tricks to keep it super soft, moist, and tender: Buttermilk, Greek yogurt, and oil. Buttermilk helps keep cakes soft, springy, bouncy, tender, with the perfect balance of density and fluffiness. The results are unparalleled. You can make buttermilk by souring your own milk. Add about 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to 1/2 cup milk, wait for 10 minutes for it to curdle, then use as indicated. If you don’t routinely keep buttermilk on hand, I highly recommend this Powdered Buttermilk. If you don’t use buttermilk much, but sometimes see a recipe that needs a half cup, but because you think you won’t use the rest of the jug before it goes bad, you opt of trying the recipe, then this powder is your new best friend. Shelf stable, keeps for ages.
To make sure the cake has a nice pop of cinnamon flavor, I used one tablespoon cinnamon in the cake batter, and there’s one teaspoon in the topping. For a cinnamon fiend like me it’s perfect and I don’t think too intense, but if you’re more sensitive to cinnamon, you may wish to dial it down, possibly even halving it.
After whisking together the easy cake batter and turning it out into the pan, add the buttery brown sugar topping. When you mix up the topping, it looks like streusel topping, with some pea-sized clumps and some sandy bits. However, while baking, the brown sugar and butter melt, and the topping turns into a caramelized wall of brown sugar. Best tasting wall ever.
The simple vanilla cream cheese glaze is the literal icing on the cake. Sweet and light, with a slight tang, and it’s the perfect contrast to the warming cinnamon and nutmeg flavors. If you don’t have cream cheese on hand, you can use butter instead. The cake is springy, bouncy, and very moist, with just enough density to give it some heft and dimension, while the contrasting brown sugar top layer is buttery, firm, crispy and flakey.
It’s the perfect cake for a brunch, on Christmas morning, or just because it’s a Wednesday. It’s cake I want to eat on the couch, curled up with a blanket, with a book in one hand, and a mug of hot coffee in the other. My ultimate (pipe) dream is to be served this cake as a breakfast-in-bed cake, but I’d have to believe in Santa Claus in order for that to be a reality.
Related Recipes
Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze – The taste and comfort of cinnamon rolls, minus any of the waiting or work Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Blueberry Muffin and Buttermilk Pancakes Cake – A cake that tastes like hybrid of muffins and pancakes. Can be made with frozen berries
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Bliss Cake – Like a Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bar in cake form
Peaches and Cream Fluffy Muffin Cake – If you don’t have fresh peaches, most any frozen fruit like mangoes, strawberries, or mixed berries may be used
Cream Cheese-Swirled Cherry and Mixed Berries Cake – Homemade version of an Entenmann’s cream cheese coffee cake
Strawberries and Cream Coffee Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze – One of the best coffee cakes ever. Use your favorite fresh, frozen, or seasonal fruit in this incredibly moist and soft cake
Blueberry and Jam Buttermilk Coffee Cake with Buttery Vanilla Glaze – One of the best coffee cakes or cakes I’ve ever made. Highly recommended – tied with the one above
Cinnamon Bun Pie – These rolls use a shortcut and they’re ready from start to finish in less than 30 minutes and they give Cinnabons a run for their money Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin Bread with Cinnamon Sugar Butter – If you’ve never made bread before, this is a goofproof, foolprood, no-knead bread recipe. You’ll never have a need for storebought English muffins again Baked Cinnamon Bun Donuts with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze – Yeast-free, easy, and if you don’t have a donut pan, try them as muffins Cinnamon Sugar Crust Cream Cheese and Jelly Danish Squares – Like an Entenmann’s danish,with a crispy and crunchy cinnamon-sugar coating, and filled with cream cheese and jelly Overnight Buttermilk Soft and Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls – The best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever had and a consistent reader and Pinterest favorite
The Best Buttermilk Recipes – 25+ easy recipes for cakes, breads, muffins, donuts and more. Now you know what to do with it so you’ll never waste it again
Check out some of the other fun Gold Medal Flour-inspired posts today Soft Baked Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies – Eat Live Run Coconut and Raspberry Financiers – Bakers Royale Peppermint Cookie Brownies – What’s Gaby Cooking Chocolate Turtle Pie Sugar – Plum Blog Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes – Gimme Some Oven Eggnog Snickerdoodle Cookies – Wanna Be A Country Cleaver Coconut Waffles with Pomegranate Syrup – Foodie Crush Cranberry Lemon and Ginger Muffins – Texanerin Baking Cranberry Orange Breakfast Knots – Completely Delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes – Gimme Some Oven Chocolate Turtle Pie – Sugar Plum Blog This post was brought to you by Gold Medal Flour. Recipe and opinions are my own. Follow Gold Medal Flour on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest to check out how-to recipes, videos, and tips on baking #BakewithGMF
What’s your favorite coffee cake?
