Home / Recipes / Popular / Cakes & Cupcakes / Crunchy Coffee Cake

Crunchy Coffee Cake

The perfect cake to go along with a cup of coffee or tea, a deliciously moist Crunchy Coffee Cake, a buttery brown sugar and chocolate chip crumb used as a filling and topping! The perfect coffee cake.

Coffee cake on a white board.


 

I am actually reposting this recipe, because I it’s a darn good cake and because I wanted to take new photos. I love reading about the fact that this Crunchy Coffee Cake was the start of my posting of North American Desserts. Some my Mom made and most that I grew up with. From a delicious Lemon Bread to my Mom’s Shortbread cookies!

Recipe Ingredients

  • Flour – cake or pastry flour
  • Sugar – granulated sugar
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon – ground cinnamon
  • Butter – softened butter
  • Milk – 20% or whole milk
  • Eggs – room temperature eggs
  • Brown sugar – golden brown sugar
  • Chocolate chips – semi sweet chocolate chips

How To Make Cake Flour

For every cup of all purpose flour, remove two tablespoons and replace with two tablespoons of corn starch. Be sure to sift the flour and cornstarch together a couple of times, this way it is sure to be properly combined and lump free. Cake flour in cakes will give you a very tender texture and fine crumb, it will also help the cake to rise.

Coffee cake with three slices cut.

How to make a Crunchy Coffee Cake

To make the topping – In a small/medium bowl, combine the brown sugar and flour, cut in the butter to resemble small crumbs stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the butter and milk, beat on low until the ingredients are combined then increase speed to medium and beat for, then add the eggs and beat again to combine.

coffee cake how to make batter and crumb topping, in the pan ready for baking

Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan, sprinkle with half the topping, cover with the remaining batter and top with the remaining topping. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.

Why Use Room Temperature Ingredients?

When at room temperature, eggs, butter, and other dairy ingredients form an emulsion which traps air. While baking in the oven, that trapped air expands and produces a fluffy baked good. So be sure to remove the ingredients from the fridge 45-60 minutes before baking.

What Is The Difference Between Coffee Cake And Crumb Cake

One of the differences between the two is the amount of streusel or crumb topping, a coffee cake has much less, and sometimes a crumb cake is all crumb, just like this Peach Crumb Cake. Another difference is a coffee cake is more cake than crumb.

Coffee cake on a white board.

Why Is It Called Coffee Cake

It is a moist cake usually with a light crumb topping, it is served with coffee or tea usually for breakfast or snack. Sometimes it does have coffee in it, but the reason it is called Coffee Cake is because it is served with coffee.

How To Store It

The cake should be stored covered and at room temperature, it will keep for up to 3 days. It can be refrigerated in an airtight contain for up to a week, although refrigerating may cause it to dry out. Any longer than that it should be frozen.

How To Freeze It

Cool the cake completely then wrap it in plastic wrap or foil, then place it in a freezer safe bag or container. It will keep for up to 2-3 months in the freezer. Thaw the frozen cake overnight at room temperature.

I know that the Italian dishes I usually prepare when I have people over for dinner are always much appreciated, but my Italian friends and family just love to try my North American desserts!

More Delicious Desserts

The reason is very simple, they all know I will come out of the kitchen with some huge tray filled with creamy, North American, deliciousness that I learned to make from my years living across the ocean.

A slice of coffee cake.

So get ready and enjoy all these delicious recipes I have in stock and ready for you to cook and enjoy with the ones you love.

The recipe I chose to start with is a delicious Coffee Cake, that I started to serve  Easter Sunday for breakfast,  a deliciously soft, moist cake with a crunchy topping. Enjoy!

Coffee cake on a white board.

Crunchy Coffee Cake

Rosemary Molloy
Crunchy Coffee Cake, a delicious coffee cake with a yummy crunchy streusel topping.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 10 slices
Calories 358 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 2 cups cake/pastry flour
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt (if you use unsalted butter then add ¼ teaspoon of salt)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • â…“ cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup milk (room temperature)
  • 2 large eggs (room temperature)

Topping

  • â…” cup light brown sugar (lightly packed)
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
  • ½ cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips (or regular)

Instructions
 

  • Grease and flour a 9½ inch (24 cm) bundt pan.  Pre heat oven to 350F (180C).

FOR THE TOPPING

  • In a small/medium bowl, combine the brown sugar and flour, cut in the butter to resemble small crumbs stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the butter and milk, beat on low until the ingredients are combined then increase speed to medium and beat for 1½ minutes, add the eggs and beat again 1½ minutes to combine.
  • Pour half the batter into the prepared bundt pan, sprinkle with half the topping, cover with the remaining batter and top with the remaining topping. Bake for approximately 35 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Let cool 10-15 minutes in the pan then move to a wire rack to cool completely. The cake can also be served slightly warm. Enjoy!

Notes

To make homemade cake/pastry flour – For every cup of all purpose flour, remove two tablespoons and replace with two tablespoons of corn starch. Be sure to sift the flour and cornstarch together a couple of times, this way it is sure to be properly combined and lump free. Cake flour in cakes will give you a very tender texture and fine crumb, it will also help the cake to rise.
The cake should be stored covered and at room temperature, it will keep for up to 3 days. It can be refrigerated in an airtight contain for up to a week, although refrigerating may cause it to dry out. Any longer than that it should be frozen.
Cool the cake completely then wrap it in plastic wrap or foil, then place it in a freezer safe bag or container. It will keep for up to 2-3 months in the freezer. Thaw the frozen cake overnight at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 358kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 224mg | Potassium: 171mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 365IU | Calcium: 97mg | Iron: 1.7mg
Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a comment below or pin it to your Pinterest account!

Updated from April 17, 2014.

16 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Me encantan tus recetas. Y los pasteles de café me gustan mucho, pero estas últimas no veo el café como ingrediente. Por eso no entiendo porqué las llamas de café.

    1. Hola Martha
      Muchas gracias, la razón por la que un pastel se llama “Pastel de café” es porque te comes el pastel con café. Extraño pero cierto.

    1. Hi Kathy, well the cake may come out more like a cookie, because eggs help to bind and rise a cake. Oh well, it happens to everyone. Let me know how it came out.

  2. This cake is almost ready to come out of the oven but none of the topping stayed on the top!! Help! What happened?

  3. Hi Roemary,
    I love making cakes and I’m going to add this one to my repertoire. Sounds interesting; shall try making it. The title, ‘ An Italian in my kitchen’ sounds very inviting. It reminds of Shel Silverstein’s poem, ‘There’s a Polar bear in our frigidaire.’Have a great time baking!

  4. Hi Rosemary, I am a diabetic so I am going to try using my sugar sub. in your recipe to see how they come out. I will let you know.

  5. 5 stars
    I am having a problem printing the recipes, not sure what i am or am not doing right..
    Just LOVE your recipes and there are many that i would love to have in my hand..
    So far the only way for me to save them in on Pinterest..Help please ..

    1. Hi Mary, thanks for the wonderful compliment and so happy that you enjoy the recipes. In regards to the printing as far as I know it is all in order (a few friends tried it out for me) maybe you should check to see if your printer is working properly. Let me know.

  6. 5 stars
    Sounds like a lovely idea. This coffee cake looks delicious, I could happily eat this with a nice mug of tea or coffee. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great weekend!!

  7. how exciting that you’re adding Canadian recipes to your repertoire. I look forward to learning about Canadian cuisine 🙂

    1. Thanks, glad you like the idea. I love Italian cooking but I love north american desserts too, and it seems so do the Italians I know. So hello chocolate cake.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.