Sour Cream Coffee Cake, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel
This is my FAVORITE recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake! My main complaint with Coffee Cake is that there is usually too much cake, not enough streusel. This recipe gives you the max amount of streusel without ruining the light fluffiness of the cake! A vanilla drizzle finishes it off for the perfect cake-for-breakfast situation.
Happy birthday to meeee! It’s not actually my birthday, it’s The Food Charlatan’s birthday! Eight years ago I published my first recipe here on this little blog. I called it “The Food Charlatan” because I didn’t know how to cook really at all.
Now here we are 8 years later and I’ve conned you all into thinking that I know what I’m doing. Mwahahaha! Don’t get me wrong, I am much more comfortable in the kitchen than I was 8 years ago, and I never publish a recipe on this blog that I don’t have complete confidence in. (You can trust today’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake, for example. It’s legiiiiit.)
But I still have a lot to learn! It’s so fun sharing my food journey with all of you guys. Seriously, I’m so glad you’re here! Blogging would be super boring without you!
To celebrate 8 years blogging, I thought I would share a random sample of emails/comments that I get from readers on a regular basis. These are the fun ones. Reader comments are in italics.
A Day in the Inbox of a Food Blogger
Dear Karen,
I’m sure your a good person, with a kind heart, are you aware that a charlatan is in essence a con man, a ripoff and other unfriendly things?
(You would not believe how many people try to inform me about my own blog name. I think it’s hilarious.)
Some people are so kind:
Do you have your own cookbook for sale? I would certainly buy it.
(I don’t have a cookbook yet, but I hope I will someday! They are a ton of work and I don’t want to miss my kids growing up. Someday when they are older I’ll do it. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if I write a cookbook. Probably you will be sick of hearing about it by the time I’m through!
I tried to use your website for my cooking class, but it’s just so busy, with so many videos and ads loading constantly I just could not. Unfortunately this seems to be the constant theme with all cooking sites – websites in general – as ad revenue clearly becomes the most important consideration. Perhaps speak to your web developer about some optimization.
Ah, the frustration with ads. I get it, they are annoying. It makes me sad that some people think all I care about is the bottom line. One guy even told me once that he was sure I was only making a few cents on those ads, so I should take them off.
I make a full time income from this blog. It feeds my family. It’s also a butt-ton of work. I’m providing well-researched recipes to provide value to my readers. You don’t have to pay to access to these recipes I work so hard on (remember when you had to, like, PAY to buy cookbooks??), but you do have to put up with the ads so that I can keep the content coming!
More really nice people:
You sound like a lovely lady of faith and that is a big draw for me. I’m a grandma of deep faith and I love that young ladies are not ashamed to announce that they are as well.
Happy blogging and I can’t wait to try your recipes! I pray you have much success encouraging others to try new recipes! Personally, with your writing skills, I believe you will!
I get emails about my religion on a regular basis, and I love it! I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I believe that Jesus is my Savior and that we have a living prophet on the earth today. It’s awesome. If you have any questions about my religion, I’d love to talk to you about it. Shoot me an email! [email protected]
Funny comments on particular recipes:
Here’s one about my 3 Ingredient Roasted Potatoes with Crunchy Onions:
I’m having a hard time figuring out where the idea of crunchy onions came from, I didn’t even see onions in the recipe, the closest thing was onion soup, and in my 46 years of being a certified gourmet chef, I’ve never made crisp onion soup, for one thing if it’s crunchy it’s no longer soup, soup doesn’t crunch? Could you explain this to me. Thank you.
“Soup doesn’t crunch.” Put that on my tombstone.
These Homemade Pretzel Hot Dogs from The Food Charlatan take me back to my mall-rat days, when I’d blow my allowance on the sales racks at Contempo Casuals and 5-7-9. (Coincidentally, treats like these are also detrimental to me returning to the 5, 7, OR 9.)
About these Gruyere-Crisped Potatoes Au Gratin: I’m sorry to say that these ended up on the kitchen floor. The casserole dish it was in broke… I cut my finger. It was quite the commotion. Everyone was worried about me… I was more upset about not even tasting the potatoes!!
About this Cheesy Overnight Bacon and Egg Breakfast Casserole): I picked your recipe because your name made me laugh!
(I love you! I love you!)
A comment in response to Soft and Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls, where I announced that I was pregnant and explained that morning sickness kept me from posting new recipes for several months. (Apparently some people thought they were having computer issues):
I’m so happy for you and your family Karen! And most thankful you are no longer having the horrors of morning..noon…and night sickness! I, too, was one of those ignorant folk that could not figure out why I was no longer getting your posts…giving hubby a bad rap (thought he deleted some of my “good stuff”) I will apologize to him when I finish here.)
About my Brown Sugar Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting:
Dear Karen,
I still love you, but if I were to eat that cake with all those carbs, I might die in a week.
I feel you. Sometimes death by cake is worth it though.
I can’t find it now, but probably my favorite email of all time though was when someone told me that my blog posts were too long. I needed to shorten them up and stop telling dumb stories about my kids because there’s not enough space “on the cloud” for all this content. I swear. I died laughing!
For every annoyed person who emails to inform me that they don’t care about my stories/my kids/”just give me the *%@* recipes already,” I get three emails like this:
I have been receiving your emails/blog for a while now and I just wanted to contact you and tell you how much I enjoy it! I love your recipes (I’ve made so, so many and always pass them on to friends), but I also love reading about you and your family! Your blog makes me laugh and I find it so relatable! I am also a stay at home Mom, although my kids are older than yours now. Your stories remind me of when my kids were younger, and always have me in stitches. As soon as I see an email from you, I get so excited to read what’s been going on in your life – you’ve always got the best stories! Your sense of humour is amazing and I think that’s what keeps Moms going – a great sense of humour!
Here are links to all my anniversary (ish) posts, if you want to take a walk down memory lane!
(2011) The first blog post on The Food Charlatan: Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies
(2012) The Food Charlatan 1st Anniversary: Cake Mix Coffee Cake
(2013) The Food Charlatan 2nd Anniversary: Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies (I did a reshoot of my first recipe)
(2014) The Food Charlatan 3rd Anniversary: The Food Charlatan’s New Blog Design
(2015) The Food Charlatan 4th Anniversary: The Best Chocolate Cake I’ve Ever Had
(2016) The Food Charlatan 5th Anniversary: Death by Chocolate Bundt Cake
(2017) The Food Charlatan 6th Anniversary: Upside Down Almond Crunch Cupcakes
(2018) The Food Charlatan 7th Anniversary: Ginger Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
How to make the best Sour Cream Coffee Cake
You guys this Sour Cream Coffee Cake is INSANE. I love it so much! I worked on this recipe for a while and had quite a few failure cakes before I landed on this version. (See?? #charlatan) Coffee cake has no coffee in it, it’s a basic yellow cake with layers of cinnamon sugar streusel meant to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee. Or with a glass of milk, if you’re like me!
I don’t want a yellow cake with some streusel on top. Basically I want some cake with my streusel, not the other way around. I mean, right? Am I the only one who is obsessed with crumbly streusel? It’s SO GOOD. I did the same thing for this Apple Crisp, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel. It was a lot easier to increase the streusel on that recipe because apples don’t need to rise. It took me a few tries to get the right ratio of cake to streusel, so that the streusel stayed on top and didn’t just sink into a sad dense cake.
But I finally got it! Here’s how this sour cream coffee cake is going down:
First make your ridiculous amount of streusel. It’s got a full cup of butter in it. This is not an apology. It’s cake, you guys. Embrace it! Use melted butter. I tried a few versions with cold butter cut in with a pastry cutter, and trust me, for this recipe, melted butter works best to get the crumbliest streusel! (We are drying out some of the remaining streusel on a pan to add halfway through the bake time–see recipe)
(The photo on the left is after the butter is mixed into the dry ingredients. Photo on the right is the final batter.)
For the cake batter, make separate mixtures of dry and wet ingredients. Beat the butter into the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients in increments. We are using a full cup and a half of sour cream for this coffee cake, it makes for a very moist and slightly tangy cake. It’s okay if your finished batter has a few lumps in it, but overall it should be light and fluffy.
Streusel for days
Add 2 layers of streusel in between cake batter layers. This means you really do get streusel in every single bite, not just a layer in the middle and on top.
Finally, drizzle the whole thing with buttery vanilla icing that takes 2 seconds to whip up. You are going to be everyone’s favorite person when you make this Sour Cream Coffee Cake! It would be perfect to make on Christmas morning!
More cake for breakfast recipes you are going to love!
Maple Butter Twist Coffee Cake << this is from my BFF’s mom, Anne. An amazing baker! This cake is so good.
The FLUFFIEST Homemade Cinnamon Rolls of Your Life << For real. We just made these again for general conference weekend. So good!
Soft and Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls << make these for Christmas breakfast. Everyone will love you!
Easy Pumpkin Pie Cake << this is a doctored cake mix but with Pumpkin in the middle. It’s SO good!
Cake Mix Coffee Cake << from my famous Aunt Shirley! She is a wonderful baker! We had this all the time growing up.
Cream Cheese French Toast Casserole << this is another great special breakfast that my family loves!
Overnight Blueberry French Toast Casserole << Blueberries forever!!
Apple Crisp, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel << for all you streusel fanatics out there like me
Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake from Shugary Sweets
Cinnamon Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake from Oh Sweet Basil
Cinnamon Cake Roll from Wine and Glue
Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
Sour Cream Coffee Cake, with a Ridiculous Amount of Streusel
12-16 adjust servingsThis is my FAVORITE recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake! My main complaint with Coffee Cake is that there is usually too much cake, not enough streusel. This recipe gives you the max amount of streusel without ruining the light fluffiness of the cake! A vanilla drizzle finishes it off for the perfect cake-for-breakfast situation.
Ingredients
For the streusel
- 3 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
For the cake
- 2 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, softened but still cool
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the icing
- 1/4 cup (half stick) butter, very soft
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup milk, more to taste
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch cake pan* with nonstick spray or rub with butter.
- Make the streusel: In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons cinnamon.
- Melt 1 cup butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Pour into the larger bowl and stir the butter into the flour. You should end up with a bowl of what looks like wet sand, with lots of big chunks. Don't try to smooth it out. See photo.
- For the cake: In a large bowl or stand mixer, whisk together 2 and 1/4 cups flour, 1 and 1/4 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.
- Chop 3/4 cup softened butter into chunks. You want the butter to sit out of the fridge for several minutes to that it's not rock-hard, but don't let it soften so much that it's completely creamy.
- Add the chopped butter and 1/2 cup sour cream to the flour mixture. Use the paddle attachment (or electic beaters) to blend the butter in. Eventually the butter will moisten the flour and it will all come together in a ball. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary. Don't over mix, just beat until all the butter is incorporated.
- In another large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Beat well until the eggs are well blended.
- Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture in 3 additions, beating for about 20 seconds after each one. Once all the egg mixture is added, beat for another 1 minute until the batter is light and fluffy.
- Spread 2 cups of batter into the bottom of your prepared cake pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of streusel evenly over the top, breaking up any too-large pieces with your hands.
- Spread another 2 cups batter on top and spread it around as best you can.
- Add another 1 cup streusel on top.
- Add the rest of the batter and spread evenly.
- Evenly spread another 2 cups of streusel on top of the cake. Do NOT add all the remaining streusel! There will be some left over. Spread the remaining streusel on a baking sheet to dry out a little bit.
- Bake the cake at 350 for 25 minutes.
- Do this next part fast. Remove the cake from the oven and shut the oven door. Use your hands to sprinkle all the remaining streusel on top of the cake, focusing on any areas where the cake batter has puffed up from the center. Move quickly! Get the cake back in the oven as soon as you can, and keep the oven door shut as much as possible.
- Bake for another 20-25 minutes.* The total bake time for the cake should be about 45-50 minutes, depending on your oven and whether you use a glass or metal pan. Test the cake with a toothpick. It is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no wet batter on it. The cake should not wobble around at all when you shake the pan.
- Let the cake cool on a wire rack for at least 15-20 minutes for cutting into it.
- Make the icing: In a medium bowl, beat 1/4 cup butter until smooth. (I actually did it by hand with a whisk. You can do this if your butter is ultra soft.)
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup milk, and 2 cups powdered sugar. Beat with a mixer or by hand until very smooth.
- Drizzle the icing over the cake. You can either drizzle it over the whole cake or drizzle each individual serving. I like to drizzle about half the icing over the whole cake, and then save the rest of drizzling over each serving.
- The cake is best served warm! Zap individual servings in the microwave for 10-20 seconds if you are serving after the cake has cooled.
- This cake will keep well covered on the counter for 2-3 days. After that, put it in the fridge.
by The Food Charlatan
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Oh my gosh… I LOVE this. Just made it this morning. It is EVERYTHING it promises and THEN SOME! Very good and totally worth all the sugar 🤣
Hooray, coffee cake success! So glad it was a hit, thank you for reviewing Caitlin!
I enjoyed the coffee cake but I thought the icing was rather salty, not a good taste. I think text time I’ll try a different icing.
Hi Steve! did you use kosher salt? I’m sorry it wasn’t for you! I like salt in my icings to cut the sweetness.
Happy Anniversary!! I love your blog, and the stories that come with the recipes!! Definitely keep them coming!!
I just tested out your recipe for the best chocolate cake you’ve ever had…and realized after the cakes were baked and the butter for the frosting was creamed that I, in fact, did NOT have a brand new bag of powdered sugar in the pantry! Since it was 7:00 PM and we are a solid 25 minutes away from the closest grocery store, I improvised and doctored up a can of vanilla frosting, but it didn’t even come close to doing justice to that cake. Just when I think I have it together in the kitchen…. there’s always next time right?
Thank you so much Haley! You are so sweet! And I have serious cake sympathy for you that you had to use storebought frosting. That is just tragic. Also I’m trying to imagine my life being 25 mins away from a grocery store and I think I would die. You must be a way more organized human than me! Next time buy 3 bags of powdered sugar, stuff keeps forever. Also, isn’t this just another excuse to make cake? :)
I baked this coffee cake this afternoon, and though the method was interesting and different, and a little more time-consuming, it was worth it. Delicious! I’ve never had such a light-textured coffee cake. It may have helped that I spooned the flour into the measuring cup instead of my usual scoop-with-the-cup method. Thanks for another great recipe that will go into my repertoire!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake Terrie! Sometimes a good cake is worth a few extra steps :) And I’m glad you spooned the flour, very important! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment!
Congrats on your big anniversary Karen!! I love your blog so much and am so proud of you and how hard you’ve worked to get it where it is. I brag about you every chance I get. I’m sure I refer to this blog several times a day and I also look forward to every new post-for the recipes but really, more for the stories. They are the best. Love you sweet girl.
PS this recipe looks like one piece will pretty much be my entire calorie allotment for one day. Oh well, like you say, embrace it! It’s CAKE for heavens sake!!
I made this yesterday. It is so delicious!! I made it just as written; no substitutions. Finally…enough streusel! It was perfect for a Sunday brunch-time snack.
Thanks for always tempting me with recipes I MUST try immediately! My family thanks you, too!
Finally, enough streusel!! Haha, that’s exactly what I want to hear! So glad you enjoyed the recipes as-is Therese, thank you for reviewing. It helps me out so much!
I cannot wait to make this coffee cake!! My philosophy is that you can NEVER have too much streusel. What a fun post to read. I loved the comments you shared from your readers. I have loved and followed your blog for years and will continue to love it follow it. Your photos are gorgeous and your recipes are amazing! Congratulations❤️!
I’m with you, long live the streusel!! Thank you so much for following along through the years Jodi, your support means everything to me! I hope you get to try the cake soon :)
Congratulations on 8 years!!! 😊
Literally have tears rolling down my cheeks from the funny comments you posted above from your customers! 😂
Just recently in the last year or so I came across your blogs/ recipes and I am so glad I did! I have enjoyed using the recipes you shared to making wonderful meals and the delicious desserts!
Thank you again and wish you many more years of success on your wonderful blog/ recipes.
Many Blessings,
Sue
Thank you so much Sue! I’m glad the comments made you laugh as much as they made me laugh, some people are just so funny. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, it’s nice to hear from you!
Congratulations on 8 years! I’m so glad that I found your blog. I love your recipes and I love your stories just as much. I look forward to seeing you in my inbox and worry when you don’t post regularly! Here’s to 8 more enjoyable years. Thanks for being so helpful in the past. You’re terrific Karen!
Thank you so much Pamala! I really appreciate you being here! If you see me not posting like that again, that means we’re going for a 5th I guess. Haha!! Nothing but morning sickness can keep me from this blog!
Hi Karen. I’m really looking forward to making this coffee cake.
Before I do, please clarify the amount of flour needed for the cake. In the list of ingredients for the cake, it calls for 1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour. But in Step 4 it says to add 2 and 1/4 cups flour for the cake mix. Please clarify if this should be 1 and 1/4 cups flour or 2 and 1/4 cups flour. Thank you!!
Hi Cheryl! Great catch, thanks for letting me know! I fixed it. It’s 2 and 1/4 cups flour. Enjoy!!
Happy Anniversary!! I LOVE your blog – your stories, your recipes, pictures, and whatever else you’d like to add! I’m a grandma and love having something special to give my kiddos when they’re here. I have to save your post in my email, so that I can come back over and over and check out all the links!! And – that’s a good thing :) Can’t wait to try this sour cream coffee cake!
As always, thanks for sharing everything!
I’m so happy to hear that Kris, thank you for the encouragement! It is so nice to bake for the ones you love, right? Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Hello. Your food always looks so appetizing. For this recipe, are you using light or dark brown sugar? It looks dark to me but I like knowing for sure. Thanks for the recipe. I love my streusel and lots of icing.
Hi BJ! I used dark brown sugar but you can use either kind! It will taste great either way. Enjoy the cake!
Regarding flour
for cake u have listed 1 1/4 cups flour but in instructions u list 2 1/4 cups of flour . This is for recipe for the cake
You’re right Marian! So sorry about that! I fixed it and it’s 2 and 1/4 cups flour!
I’m all about the streusel topping. The more the better. Once again our minds were synced, we just finished eating our traditional quiche and coffee cake for conference. I am excited to try this version!
Amen, bring on the streusel! I know, I wish I had gotten this recipe out in time for conference! Your mom’s cake is still one of my favorites. Ah memories.
The ingredients call for 1 1/4 cups of flour but the directions call for 2 1/4 cups flour. Which one is correct?
Thanks
Thanks for pointing that out Karen, the correct amount is 2 and 1/4 cups!
Why can’t I find the actual recipe for the coffe cake?
Probably because I blathered on too long about blogging for 8 years. Just keep scrolling! I’m just trying to make money off of you, didn’t you know?? (That’s a joke. :)