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Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe

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This light and airy sour cream coffee cake recipe has a cinnamon butter crust. The sour cream gives it a wonderfully soft crumb. A definite crowd-pleaser when you have guests to entertain. A surprisingly simple and easy recipe.

A stack of coffee cake squares on a wooden board.
How to make a coffee cake with sour cream and cinnamon butter crust

A good coffee cake recipe is a must-have on hand and this one is absolutely my favorite because it’s so easy to make but also because it’s one that always gets rave reviews from people. Every time I take this with me to family and friends I get people asking me for the recipe.

About this cake

The batter is a butter-based vanilla cake batter with sour cream which gives it a wonderfully soft texture and crumb. Unlike a batter with milk, this batter looks dense with sour cream but it will all melt away and add to a rich, creamy yet light and airy cake.

People often ask me how I coat the cake like this but it’s not a glaze or a crumble. The top is created like a crumble but it’s room temperature so it sinks and melts into the cake. That’s what we want because then we get these pockets of butter and cinnamon that taste absolutely delicious.

A stack of coffee cake squares on a wooden board.
How to make a coffee cake with sour cream and cinnamon butter crust

Ingredients and substitutes

  • All-purpose flour – I use regular all-purpose flour (not cake flour) for most of my cakes.
  • Sugar – A mix of both gives this cake a nice color and texture. But you can certainly do all white or all brown as well. I would not recommend dark brown sugar as it will give you a different texture, taste, and color for the cake.
  • Butter – I always use unsalted butter for my cakes so I can control the amount of salt but if salted butter is all you have, just omit salt in the recipe and use salted butter.
  • Cinnamon – a wonderful spice at any time of the year. But you can omit it just as well.
  • Sour cream – Gives a nice soft crumb and texture to the cake. If you don’t have sour cream, Greek yogurt is often a great substitute. You can also make homemade sour cream. Alternatively, you can also use buttermilk, it takes only five minutes to make homemade buttermilk
  • Vanilla– priced like gold but so important to use good quality vanilla. I make my own vanilla extract, bean paste, and vanilla sugar.
A collage of the ingredients for making sour cream coffee cake.
How to make a coffee cake with sour cream and cinnamon butter crust

Step by step instructions

  • Preheat the oven at 170 C / 340 F.
  • Grease and line with parchment paper an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch round baking pan.
  • Combine dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda – set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake RecipeCoffee Cake Cinnamon Sugar Step By Step1 copy
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake RecipeCoffee Cake Cinnamon Sugar Step By Step3 copy
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake RecipeCoffee Cake Cinnamon Sugar Step By Step2 copy
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake RecipeCoffee Cake Cinnamon Sugar Step By Step4 copy
  • Add egg and egg yolk
  • Followed by the vanilla extract.
  • Next, alternate the flour mixture and sour cream
  • Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure you have a smooth batter.
  • Pour batter into the prepared baking pan.
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake RecipeCoffee Cake Cinnamon Sugar Step By Step7 copy
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake RecipeCoffee Cake Cinnamon Sugar Step By Step5 copy
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake Step by Step 2
Homemade Coffee Cakes with Cinnamon Butter and Sour CreamSour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe 1
  • For the topping – combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Then, crumble in the cold butter until almost bread crumb consistency (uneven makes a better topping).
  • Spread over the batter as evenly as possible.
  • Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
A person slicing a coffee cake in to squares.
How to make a coffee cake with sour cream and cinnamon butter crust
  • The topping will melt and that’s normal. The butter will melt into the cake leaving the rest that creates a brown cinnamon sugar crust.
  • Let cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before you slice and serve.
A sliced coffee cake on a wooden board.
How to make a coffee cake with sour cream and cinnamon butter crust

Frequently asked questions

How long will this coffee cake recipe keep?

This sour cream coffee cake will keep at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. In the fridge for up to a week and can be frozen for up to a month. Make sure to wrap well to prevent it from drying out.

What flour should I use for this coffee cake recipe?

I use all-purpose flour and it works wonderfully in this recipe.

What else can I use instead of cinnamon crust?

If you want to omit the cinnamon butter topping. Try serving the coffee cake with whipped cream and fresh fruits. You can try fruit coulis or fruit fillings. My favorite is blueberry filling and cherry filling. Also, If you love curds try lemon curd or orange curd. Try my cinnamon sugar coffee cake

Can I make this an eggless coffee cake recipe?

No, this recipe works best with eggs but I do have an eggless vanilla cake that is very popular with my visitors. Perhaps you can use that for the batter and top it with cinnamon sugar.

How do I bake a perfect cake from scratch?

Baking a cake from scratch is simple and easy. I have shared 10 tips to baking a cake from scratch that you may like to check out

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Coffee cake squares stacked on a wooden board.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Calories: 382kcal
Adjust Servings Here: 8 servings

Description

This light and airy sour cream coffee cake recipe has a cinnamon butter crust. The sour cream gives it a wonderfully soft crumb. A definitely crowd-pleaser when you have guests to entertain. A surprisingly simple and easy recipe.

Video

Ingredients 

FOR THE CAKE

FOR THE TOP

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Instructions

  • Preheat the oven at 170 C / 340 F
  • Grease and line with parchment paper an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan or 9-inch round baking pan
  • Combine dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda – set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add egg and egg yolk
  • Followed by the vanilla extract.
  • Next, alternate the flour mixture and sour cream
  • Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure you have a smooth batter.
  • Pour batter into the prepared baking pan.

For the topping

  • Combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon, then crumble in the cold butter until almost bread crumb consistency. (uneven makes a better topping)
  • Spread over the batter as evenly as possible

Bake

  • Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • The topping will melt and that’s normal. The butter will melt into the cake leaving the rest that creates a brown cinnamon sugar crust
  • Let cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before you slice and serve.

Recipe Notes & Tips

 

Storage

  • Coffee cakes taste best in the first two days. This cake can be kept at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. Wrap the cake well to prevent drying out. 
  • This cake can also be frozen in the freezer for up to a month. Personally, I like to cut the cake into slices and place the slices in a freezer-safe storage bag. Then take only as many slices as I need for my tea time snack.

Conversions Used

1 lb = 453 grams, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 stick = 113g, 1 tbsp= 15 ml, 1 tsp= 5 ml,

Nutrition Information

Calories: 382kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 5gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 398mgPotassium: 132mgFiber: 1gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 630IUCalcium: 68mgIron: 2mg

The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you

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14 Comments

  1. Hannah Ng says:

    Hi Veena, I am an amateur noob homecook. I stumbled upon your site when I keyed in light sour cream as a search term. May I ask if I can use light sour cream instead of sour cream? Thanks! Really wanna try this one!

    1. Hey Hannah. I get sour cream for baking which is 27% fat. I suggest you see the % of fat on your sour cream. You can use above 27% fat for this cake

  2. Hi! I would like to try this recipe but bake it as cupcakes. How much time should it be baked for and if there are any other changes you would recommend to get it right as cupcakes?
    Thank you

    1. You can bake these as cupcakes. They should take about 18 to 20 minutes at 160 C / 320 F. Let me know how they were

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