An easy and delicious coffee cake with a sugary glaze
The term Coffee Cake simply means any cake that is intended to be eaten with coffee. This cake can be eaten in the morning or with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The ingredients come together very quickly so it is an ideal recipe to make if you do not have a lot of time but would like to bake something homemade. I make this recipe in one big 9 x 13 pan but it would also work in individual muffin tins. Coffee Cakes are typically a moist crumb cake flavored with cinnamon and sugar. Some recipes use sour cream or yogurt but I prefer to use milk. I feel that milk add the right amount of moisture without making the cake too heavy. I also do not feel that you need a lot of butter or oil in the recipe. After many tries I have figured out the exact amount of butter and oil that is necessary to create a light cake that has the right amount of cinnamon and sugar.
The one thing I can promise is that when this Cinnamon Coffee Cake is baking in your oven everyone in your house will say “Oh, that smells so good.” There is something so delicious about the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar baking in the oven. In this recipe I layer the cinnamon and brown sugar in the batter so there is a good ratio of batter to cinnamon sugar. I drizzle a little melted butter over the cake before it bakes in the oven. After the cake comes out of the oven I let it cool for 10 minutes before drizzling the coffee cake with a sugar glaze. The sugar glaze looks so pretty on top and works well with the brown sugar and cinnamon flavors.
This is a perfect Coffee Cake to serve at brunch time or if you are having some friends over for coffee. I really like to serve it warm fresh out of the oven or reheated. To reheat the coffee cake in the oven you will need to wrap it in foil and warm it at 325. You can also use a microwave to warm up the cake. You want the coffee cake to be warm, not hot. The Coffee Cake will stay fresh for 2 days out of the refrigerator or 5 days in the refrigerator. You can even freeze the Coffee Cake for up to a month. Just make sure you store the Coffee Cake in an air tight container.
Some Delicious Variations:
You can add fruit in the middle of the coffee cake as well.
- Mash a cup of fresh or frozen raspberries with a half of tablespoon of cornstarch.
- Chop up some walnuts or almonds
- A cup of mini semi sweet chocolate chips
- Add 1/4 tsp of instant coffee to glaze to give it a little coffee flavor
Spoon the added ingredients over the first layer of batter before you sprinkle on the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Ingredients
Batter
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ cup melted butter or vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup milk
- 3 tbsp butter melted
Cinnamon Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1½ tbsp cinnamon
Glaze
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
- 3 tsp milk add more milk if too thick
Instructions
- preheat oven to 350
- mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar together
- In a seperate bowl mix eggs, milk, vanilla and ¾ cup oil or melted butter together
- add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well
- lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan and pour half the batter in. Batter will be a little thick so shake pan to spread out evenly.
- mix together brown sugar and cinnamon and spread half over batter
- use a spoon to add spoonfuls of batter over the top and gently spread out with wet fingers.
- top with remaining cinnamon and brown sugar
- drizzle with 3 tbsp melted butter
- Cover with foil and bake in oven for 20 minutes then remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Do not overbake or it will be dry.
- let cool for 10 minutes then drizzle with glaze