Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

ByKrystle Smith Posted onJuly 27, 2026February 25, 2025 Updated onFebruary 25, 2025

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My cinnamon streusel coffee cake has a super moist base, a brown sugar swirl, and an irresistible cinnamon crumb topping. I love the crumb topping, so I made sure you'll get some in every single bite.

a slice of cinnamon streusel coffee cake.

If you know me, you know I love sweet breakfasts, like Funfetti pancakes or DIY Krispy Kreme Donuts. This cinnamon streusel coffee cake recipe is a new family favorite. We love making it for holiday brunch for Easter and Christmas. Unlike a typical crumb cake which has flour based crumbs my streusel is made with dark brown sugar. It's very similar to what I use in my Blueberry Bundt Cake. It goes great with a cup of hot coffee, tea, or an icy cold glass of milk.

🤎Why Our Recipe Is the Best: A Sprinkle of Food Science🤎

We put our culinary school training and science based recipe testing to work on this one!

We Use Dark Brown Sugar: This gives the filling and topping a deep almost caramel like flavor.
We Use a Metal Baking Pan: They conduct heat quickly and more importantly evenly. This ensures the center cooks through without the edges becoming dry.
We Don't Put the Streusel Inside: Putting raw flour and butter in the center of a cake often causes it to turn sandy or worse not cook through. Using just brown sugar allows it to melt into a sweet toffee flavored ribbon throughout.
We Weigh Our Batter: I stink at eyeballing batter! To ensure I don't use too much or too little I weigh it so the filling is covered and exactly in the center.

🧈Ingredient Notes🧈

For the Coffee Cake

ingredients in clear bowls including flour, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and baking powder.

Butter: Use softened butter. It should be soft enough that you can easily make an indent with your finger. Around an hour on the counter should do the trick. Use unsalted if you have it. If not omit the added salt.
Egg: An extra egg yolks adds richness and tenderness without extra protein which can make the cake chewy or rubbery.
Brown Sugar: We prefer the flavor of dark brown sugar, but light also works. Regardless of which version you use make sure it is fresh and soft not hard and dry.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Use these as written, no substitutions. Baking soda gives a tender open crumb and helps with browning, while baking powder provides additional lift. Be sure each are fresh as they do lose their effectiveness after 6-12 months even if still technically in date.
Milk: For best results use whole milk. Low fat or plant-based milks are not recommended.
Flour: Measure your flour by spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling it with a knife. Do not scoop your cup into your flour container, you may overmeasure.
Cinnamon: We prefer the milder flavor of ceylon cinnamon. Standard supermarket cinnamon is often cassia cinnamon which can be spicy and harsh. We got our ceylon cinnamon at Walmart for under 5 bucks!
Vanilla: My homemade vanilla works great in this recipe.

flour, sugar, butter, and cinnamon in clear bowls on a burlap placemat.

Quickly Soften Butter

To quickly soften butter, cut it into smaller pieces or grate it using a cheese grater.

How To Make Cinnamon Coffee Cake

4 photos showing creaming butter and sugar, and then adding milk and flour.

Cream butter and white sugar.
Stir in eggs, vanilla, milk, baking powder baking soda, and salt.
Add flour and mix until just combined.

For the Cinnamon Swirl and Topping

4 images showing coffee cake batter, and mixing up the cinnamon filling.

Pour batter into pan. Top with brown sugar then remaining batter.

4 images showing coffee cake batter and topping assembly in a glass pan.

Cut butter, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon with 2 forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Sprinkle on top of batter.
Bake for 40-45 minutes.

❓Frequently Asked Questions❓

Why Doesn't It Contain Coffee?

This cake does not contain coffee. Coffee cake got its name because it is usually served alongside a good cup of coffee in the morning.

Can I Make This Ahead?

Yes, bake up to 2 days in advance.

🗂️Tips and Troubleshooting: Steal My Culinary School Secrets🗂️

Cake Is Tough Or Dense: Mix your ingredients until the flour just disappears. Over-mixing can overdevelop the gluten leading to a tough cake. Also, be sure your baking powder/soda are fresh. Replace every 6-12 months.
Ingredients Won't Mix Together: Use room temperature ingredients. I like to warm my milk in the microwave for around 30 seconds and leave my eggs on the counter for 30-60 minutes. You can also dunk your eggs in a glass of warm water for a minute or two.
Cake Is Dry: This is often caused by overbaking or over measuring your flour (see above). Start checking at around 40 minutes. It can be hard to get a reliable toothpick test with the sugary swirl. You can also use a food thermometer, aim for 200 degrees.
Not Having Enough Batter To Cover the Swirl: Divide your batter by weight so you don't have to guess!
Cake Is Underdone/Overdone In Spot: Use a light colored metal baking pan. They conduct heat more evenly. Glass tends to heat up slowly, but stay hot longer when removed from the oven. If you only have a glass pan, I suggest lowering the oven temp by 10-15 degrees and cooking for 10-15 more minutes.