Cinnamon and brown sugar form a crunchy topping that sits and settles into a spiced cake, making a perfect accompaniment to your favorite hot beverages. Bake this Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake for your next breakfast, brunch, or tea.
Coffeecake is probably one of my favorite breakfast dishes to prepare. I can feed a crowd in one fell swoop by stirring up a sweet batter and baking it in the oven. While I have some favorite flavors and fruity options, one go-to combination is cinnamon streusel.
Cinnamon, the American favorite as I came to learn during my time in France where cinnamon is rarely used in sweet dishes, is not only on the list of healthy spices, but it’s also an affordable pantry staple to keep on hand. This means you can whip up a Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake any time.
It’s basically always in season!
Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake for the win!
This Cinnamon Coffeecake is quickly becoming a favorite at our house. The cinnamon and brown sugar form a crunchy topping, some of it resting on top, some of it sinking into the rich cake. Either way it is delicious.
The cake is easy to pull together, makes a great make-ahead baking mix, and is always a crowd pleaser.
Unfortunately, I rarely get to eat any since my family devours it every time. When you make it, be sure to serve yourself first! Baker’s prerogative!
How to make this good and cheap:
Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour and butter can help keep the price down.
- Buying in bulk – It’s rare that I would buy just one bag of flour. Instead I stock up when I see a sale. I also have gotten into the habit of buying cases of flour from Bob’s Red Mill. I practice the same bulk buying for spices and other baking ingredients.
How I make this recipe easy:
This Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.
Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:
- stainless steel mixing bowl – I’m not sure you have too many of these.
- Silicone spatula/spoon – I have two or three of these – so convenient!
- parchment paper – I hate washing pans. Parchment paper makes clean up a breeze. Use office binder clips to secure the paper to the 9×13-inch pan until you get the batter spread.
- 9×13-inch pan – I love the ones that come with plastic lids for easy storage and stacking in the freezer.
- springform pan – a must-have for homemade cheesecakes and coffeecakes.
Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup neutral oil
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
Topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 tbsp unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp butter , melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °. Grease a 9x13 baking pan or a 9-inch springform pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and oil. Mix in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the milk.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Blend just until mixed. Spoon into the prepared pan.
- In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle them over the batter.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack slightly before serving.
Notes
Originally published January 18, 2012. Updated March 8, 2018.
P.S. The comments from January 2012 do reflect typos that have since been rectified. What a nightmare posting day! However, all was not lost! The resulting second recipe turned out to be delicious, albeit not the coffeecake everyone was expecting. You can find our happy accident Snickerdoodle Bars here.
SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen says
Looks delicious to me!
Stacy says
Looks delish and I also have all the ingredients sitting in my pantry!!
Kristi says
Mine is in the oven as we speak and smells delicious! Can’t wait to have some with my morning coffee. Thanks!
Kristi says
I have been looking forward to this recipe! We love coffee cake. I made an orange streusel one last night, and I don’t think it will last long. Thanks!
Deborah Jennings says
I can’t wait to make this! My MIL has to eat something every morning before she takes her meds and this will be right up her alley. (Mine, too!)
Tiffany says
Mine is in the oven too, with only a few minutes left.
This yields very little “dough” though…Has anyone tried to double it? I used fresh milled white wheat with baking soda, powder & salt to make “All Purpose” flour so I hope it turns out well!!
Thank you!!
J says
I made this recipe and for some reason the cake didn’t come out right. I’m an experienced baker, so I’m a little flummoxed. The cake batter was more the consistency of a dry cookie dough. And I’m also surprised at the use of no leavening…Scoured the recipe to make sure I didn’t leave anything out/do anything wrong, but I can’t find anything. Any idea what might be the problem? I was really looking forward to a sweet treat this morning. 🙂
Jessica says
I am sooooooooooo sorry. Somehow, when I typed up the recipe, my eye skipped over the baking powder. I don’t know how that happened, though I will be double-proofreading from now on. Please forgive me?
J says
@Jessica, Of course! Thanks for responding! 🙂
Tiffany says
Oh my Gravy!! Follow up to my previus post, this is DELICIOUS!!!
Jessica says
Well, yours was a “happy accident.” Since you used what we would call “self-rising flour” it worked for you since I forgot to include the baking powder in the recipe. I’m glad it worked for you regardless! 🙂
Tracy says
This looks really good. I will have to give it a try. I made this great yogurt cake last night, it turned out beautiful until I tasted it and realized I forgot the sugar. We will eat it anyway with something sweet added. I hate wasting good ingredients. Here is the recipe just in case anyone is interested:
Yogurt Cake
serves 8 or more
1 1/2 cups full-fat yogurt
2/3 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan lightly with baking spray or oil, and line the bottom with parchment.
Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nutmeg right into the liquids and stir just until no lumps remain.
Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, covering with foil at the end if the top is browning. When a tester comes out clean, transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
Serve the cake warm or at room temperature. When well-wrapped, this keeps very well for several days.
Olga says
It looks delicious
Tara says
Tiffany-
Can you tell me how you made the all purpose flour? I have started grinding my own wheat and am having a hard time with regular recipes now.
Jessica says
All-purpose is just regular flour. I think what TIffany made was “self-rising” flour. These are not the same thing.
Grinding your own wheat actually shouldn’t be the problem with your recipes, unless you were using 100% whole wheat flour before. Freshly ground wheat has the whole grain in it which is very different from regular flour. That would be why your recipes aren’t like you remember them.
Tara says
@Jessica,
So I can use my fresh ground wheat and follow the recipe exactly and it “should” be fine?
Jessica says
@Tara, as long as you remember the baking powder! LOL! Oh my!
It should be fine, though if it is red wheat it will be very wheaty and might be heavy. Like I said, whole wheat flour is very different than all-purpose flour. I usually do half and half when I use whole wheat.
Unless you are using white wheat, then doing it just regular “should” be fine.
Holland says
I didn’t read the comments before I made this recipe. 4 very hungry snow bound disappointed teenagers 🙁
Jessica says
Oh, shoot! I caught the mistake at a little after 9 this morning and fixed the post, but it was not quick enough. I’m so sorry. We’ve been discussing using the cookie-like flop as a crumble top for ice cream and parfaits. Again, I’m so sorry that the error slipped through the cracks.
Kristal says
I made this pretty much as soon as I read it this morning so before it was corrected. I added about half a cup of milk and 2 tsp of baking powder based on looking around at other recipes bec the dough looked off to me. Came out delicious for a treat for the hubby and toddler this morning:). Got to be a yes mom and have cake for breakfast ;).
Also, I use whole wheat in most all of my recipes. I just use 7/8 cup whole wheat for every cup of all purpose. Works out great!
Jessica says
Thanks for your feedback — and your willingness to tweak it when it didn’t look right. 🙂
Jenna J says
If we made it without the baking powder, like I did, do you have any suggestions on how to use the cookie like outcome? It’s too dense & sweet on it’s own right now 🙂
Thanks!
Jessica says
@Jenna J, oy vey! This is going down in history as the day that FishMama tanked everyone’s breakfasts! If it is cookie-like, I think I would crumble it to use in parfaits, like with fruit, yogurt, ice cream, whipped cream, that kind of thing. Whaddya think?
Sounds kinda good. I may just have to go make a tanked batch just to fine out!
Claire says
I have been patiently waiting for this recipe! I can not wait to make it. I will need to make 2 for sure! My family of 8 gobbles up baked goods like this. Thank you so much for sharing!
Christine A says
I wonder if I could sneak some type of veggie into this mix! My kids are becoming adverse to anything green so I am trying to be creative! Maybe a puréed spinach, zucchini or carrot?
Maureen says
@Christine A,
I replaced most of the oil with canned pumpkin, used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white, subbed buttermilk in for regular milk and added 2 tbl of ground flaxseed to the topping(added 1 more tbl of butter). Rave reviews for cake for breakfast!
Jessica says
That’s a whole new recipe. So glad it worked out! 🙂
Debbie says
I will be making this for the kids to eat with their eggs tomorrow. They are on an eggs and veggie kick these days.
Ellen says
If you don’t have a springform pan, would it work to make it in an 8×8 Pyrex dish? I don’t want a long flattish coffee cake, and I suspect I might get that in a 9×13…
Jessica says
@Ellen, I haven’t tried it that way, but I think it should work. Just adjust your cooking times.
Sherry Perry says
Oh, looks fantastic! Guess what we will be having for breakfast tomorrow? 🙂
Amy S says
Just made this for dessert and it was the BEST coffeecake I’ve ever had. Oh my soooooo good. I could eat the whole thing myself, but I’ll restrain. Thank you so much for sharing.
Jessica says
Glad you like it! Especially after all those faux pas with missing ingredients! Leave out the milk and it makes a fabulous cinnamon cookie.
Elizabeth says
Read through all the comments yesterday morning before making it….but apparently the milk hadn’t found its way into the posted recipe yet, because mine was just like a big cookie. Not really what I was going for. 🙁 Maybe if the dough had risen better, the cake wouldn’t have been so dense, but as-is, there was too much crumble for the amount of cake I ended up with. It was also a little sweet for my taste.
Moe says
YUM!! Made this today and plan on linking to your blog with this.
I made a few changes in using things up in my pantry: we are having a pantry challenge over at my blog http://AdoptiveMomHomeschoolingAnOnlyChild.blogspot.com/
I had some cranberries and golden raisins that needed used up. I also wanted to limit the oil so I used 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1/4 cup oil, also we are working on adding more fiber to our diet so I sprinkled in 3 tsp Ener-G Pure Rice Bran (can’t even tell it’s in there). YUM!! My guys like it and so did I.
Stop by my blog to see a picture.
Thanks for the great recipe idea on a cold morning!
Moe
Jaime says
This sounds so good! I’m planning to make it for my book club tomorrow.
Amanda Cathleen says
Made 2 batches today! First made a batch to go into my kids lunchboxes for tomorrow, and for them to have for a special breakfast with yogurt. But I ended up letting them have some after dinner for dessert (a rare occasion here, they just don’t think about it, and I don’t remind them!) so I *needed* to make another batch for tomorrow’s breakfast. Delicious! I did use half whole white wheat flour and it turned out beautifully!
A friend of mine saw that I posted making this on facebook and she made a batch today too, she also said it was super good, easy to make, especially since its all pantry staples!
Jessica says
So glad you liked it! Especially after all the faux pas at the beginning.
Carlene Courtney says
Thank you SO much. I will try the new recipe. Guess what? It was good as a cookie!
Jessica says
@Carlene Courtney, ha, ha! Yes, it is. You’ll have to read my tale here: https://goodcheapeats.com/2012/02/those-snickerdoodle-bars/
Emily says
My 22-month-old and I made this last night for today’s breakfast. Not only is it delicious, but quick, too! Even with his “help,” it was in the oven in about ten minutes.
Danielle says
Just made this on a whim after a sweet craving! Delicious!
Jessica says
Yeah! Glad you liked it!
Shonda says
Mine turned out great. I used half cup applesauce and 1/4 cup sugar.
Becky says
I forgot the milk! Did anyone else miss that one? Hopefully it turns out!
Jessica says
Did you read the comments? There’s a huge story behind that. It will probably be more cookie than cake like.
Irish Stevens says
I was lookingfor a quit and easy cofffee cake and this one is great made it and love it thanks
Jessica Fisher says
Great! So glad to hear that you liked it. I might go make that for my people this morning. thanks for the nudge.
Kate says
I make this at least twice a month for my kids’ breakfast—it’s my middle daughter’s favorite! I try to always make two at a time and tuck one away in the freezer. One of my favorite Good Cheap Eats! Thank you, Jessica!
Jessica Fisher says
Yay! So glad to hear it’s in the regular rotation!