How great is coffee cake? There aren’t that many cakes that can justifiably be eaten at any time of day. While we may not always need an excuse to eat cake for breakfast, it’s nice to do so with a tad less guilt sometimes.
This particular coffee cake is a slight twist on the traditional with the addition of a cream cheese swirl. All the things we love about coffee cake are still there — cinnamon, nuts, crumb topping. There just happens to be some cream cheese goodness swirled into it the delicate cake to take it to new levels of fabulousness.
Don’t be put off by the long-ish recipe. This is really far quicker and easier to put together than it appears. You will go through a lot of measuring spoons, bowls, and such, so make sure your dishwasher is ready for that. But, once you take a bite, you’ll know it was worth every dirty bowl.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- pinch salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 & 1/4 cups sour cream
Instructions
To make the crumb:
Combine all crumb ingredients in a small bowl. Mix with a fork until mixture resembles crumbs.
To make the cream cheese swirl:
Beat cream cheese and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon. Stir in pecans.
To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9” x 13” baking pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
Gradually add dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Stir in sour cream and mix just until combined.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Top batter with spoonfuls of cream cheese swirl. Use an up and down motion with a knife to swirl. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over top of cake.
Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2012/03/cinnamon-cream-cheese-coffee-cake/
March 27th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
What a delicious coffee cake – soft moist and creamy cheese-y
Thanks!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Double Jaffa Nutella Fudge Cookies + More
March 27th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
I don’t like coffee at all but I guess i could just substitute it with chocolate!!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Now this I’ve got to try!!! Looks delicious
March 28th, 2012 at 4:46 am
It looks so delicious. Loll.
I’m really pleased to see the image of Cinnamon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. It is really full of taste. Definitely I will try it today/tomorrow. Thanks for this allocation. 
March 28th, 2012 at 5:26 am
Looks awesome! Yummmm!
March 30th, 2012 at 10:35 am
Look at that crumb on top! Yum. Looks soo tasty.
March 31st, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Looks so delicious,want to taste it very much,thanks for your sharing,see you again.
April 3rd, 2012 at 9:11 am
I’m going to make this for our Easter breakfast at church! Just one question, does it have to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese? Thanks!!
April 3rd, 2012 at 9:18 am
Julie, I don’t refrigerate something with this small amount of cream cheese that’s baked into the cake if it’s going to be eaten within a few days.
April 3rd, 2012 at 9:24 am
Thanks!! Just making sure since I’m taking it up to church the night before!
April 8th, 2012 at 9:31 am
Just made this for Easter morning breakfast! It’s bit denser than I’m used to coffee cake being but still really, really, good (and able to be made from my bare-bones pantry). Bravo!
April 10th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I baked this cake for Easter this year – the coffee cake duties usually falling to my mother or grandmother – love ‘em to bits but theirs were always a bit on the dry side – this recipe was wonderful and will become a new Easter tradition! Just love your blog! Thanks!
April 10th, 2012 at 11:08 pm
This is really far quicker and easier to put together than it appears. You will go through a lot of measuring spoons, bowls, and such, so make sure your dishwasher is ready for that. But, once you take a bite, you’ll know it was worth every dirty bowl.
May 4th, 2012 at 9:15 am
Hi there, I’m just wondering why is this called coffee cake but I don’t see coffee as one of the ingredients? am I missing something? actually this cake is baking in my oven as I type this..
May 4th, 2012 at 9:17 am
S, coffee cake is called that because it’s often eaten with a cup of coffee. Enjoy the cake!
May 4th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
Lol.. that’s totally new for me. Thanks! It turned out awesome. We slapped loads of nutella on top, but i’ll try coffee tomorrow morning. Thanks Jen!
August 13th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
this looks so good,Im always looking for a good cinnamon coffee cake,Im getting ready to make it now.Hope it turns out as well as it looks:)
November 6th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Can I turn this into muffins? If so, would I need to adjust the cooking time? I’d also like to use muffins liners, would that affect the outcome?
November 6th, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Shawn, it’s worth a shot! I would decrease the baking time and check on them after 30-35 minutes. The liners shouldn’t affect the baking time.
November 7th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Thanks Jennifer! My sister & I are hosting a very last minute baby shower brunch, and are looking for simple convenient food, so I think I will give these a try!
November 12th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I followed the recipe exactly.
The next time I make this I would add a touch of orange zest for the cake batter.
I also put mine in muffin tins.
If you do use muffin tins (I didn’t use the paper inserts) put less cake batter in the bottom. Filling it 1/2 full, then cream cheese (forget knifing it in, just layer it on top), then the crumble mixture. Do not overfill because the crumble mixture melts. Then when you pull it out of the oven as it cools into a solid the sugar will become crumbly.
You can leave the little cakes in the muffin tin for a few minutes but you should remove them or the cake will become soggy.
I made a full batch and put half of it in the freezer in an air tight container for those unexpected guests.
December 31st, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Just curious…. why is the sour cream added after the dry ingredients? It seems to make the whole mixing process quite laborious. Is there anyway we can add it after the eggs?
The coffee turned out pretty good, especially the topping which is delish. I was surprised that the cake part of it dried out within a day or so, given the amount of butter and cream in the cake.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:47 am
Danica, as an alternative, you can alternate adding the dry ingredients and the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. When I’ve made this, it didn’t dry out quickly, so I’m not sure what is different with yours.
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:26 pm
is it possible to make this cake in muffin form?
February 4th, 2013 at 10:09 am
Melissa, you can certainly do that. You’ll need to decrease the baking time a bit. If you read Wendi’s comment above, she explains how she successfully made these as muffins. Enjoy!
February 15th, 2013 at 2:32 pm
I made this this in a nine inch springform pan and it presented well and tasted even better. This is definitely one of my favourite recipes going forward.
February 26th, 2013 at 9:56 pm
are the nuts optional? i would love to make this, but some of my friends are allergic to nuts.
February 27th, 2013 at 9:27 am
Hi, Madeleine! With very few exceptions, nuts are always optional.
March 31st, 2013 at 12:30 am
Question, instead of sour cream, could you use buttermilk for your recipe? I’ve used buttermilk in a diff recipe for coffee cake and it turned out great! I’m a little nervous to use the sour cream. Lol.
March 31st, 2013 at 11:44 am
Sandra, I think buttermilk will work. But, don’t be afraid of sour cream! It’s one if my favorite additions to a cake.