The best party menus are filled with recipes that vary in flavor, colors, cooking times, and most importantly, are able to be mostly made ahead. If I had to choose my favorite time of day to entertain, it would be in the morning for several reasons. I could live on breakfast foods, it’s usually less expensive than parties in the evening, and it allows for an after-party nap before sundown. If you get up in the middle of the night to cook for the morning, the life of the party certainly won’t be you.—Rebecca Lang
Why Our Testers Loved This
Our testers loved that this simple coffee cake can be made ahead of time, keeps well, feeds plenty, and is made with everyday pantry ingredients. As much as they all enjoyed it for breakfast, they also found that it makes an excellent afternoon snack or evening dessert. The “crunch factor” from the nut crumble took this cake over the top for them.
What You’ll Need to Make This
- Unsalted butter–Start with butter that is at room temperature. It will give you a lighter, fluffier cake. If you substitute salted butter, decrease the amount of salt in the batter to 1/4 teaspoon.
- Sour cream–For the best flavor, we recommend using full-fat sour cream.
- Nuts–You can substitute different varieties of nuts if you prefer, and if nut allergies are a concern, you can leave them out.
How to Make This Recipe
- Beat the butter until creamy. Slowly add the sugars, beating well to combine. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating between each addition.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla. Mix the dry and wet ingredients into the butter in alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Pour the batter into the dish, cover, and chill for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. While the oven preheats, let the baking dish stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Mix together the nut crumble ingredients.
- Sprinkle the nut crumble over the cake. Bake the cake until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool while you make the drizzle.
- Mix the confectioners’ sugar and milk together to make a smooth icing. Drizzle the icing over the cake.
Recipe FAQs
First, loosely tent the pan with foil. This should slow down the browning considerably. Another thing you can do is to move the pan to the lower third of the oven.
Sure. It can sit in the fridge overnight and, actually, you’ll find that your crumble will stay together in bigger chunks if it’s cold. If big delicious nuggets of crumble aren’t your thing, let it come to room temperature alongside the batter.
If you consistently find that your cakes are dry and crumbly, it’s possible that you’ve been overbaking them. Try cooking for a few minutes less, just until a tester comes out clean.
Being heavy-handed when measuring your flour can also contribute to dryness in baked goods. Ideally, weigh your flour, but if you don’t have a scale, be sure to fluff your flour before gently scooping or spooning.
Helpful Tips
- Leftover cake can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.
- For a quick snack or dessert, freeze individual slices of the cake, well-wrapped in plastic.
- If nut allergies are a concern, leave the nuts out of the crumble. The topping will be more like a streusel, but it will be every bit as delicious.
More Great Coffee Cake Recipes
Write a Review
If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Make-Ahead Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the coffee cake
- 1 1/2 sticks (6 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the baking dish
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the baking dish
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the nut crumble
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 3/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons (2 oz) melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the drizzle icing
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
Make the coffee cake
- In the bowl of a fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add the sugars, beating well. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a small bowl, combine sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternating with the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Allow each addition to be fully incorporated before continuing.
- Butter and flour a 13-by-9-inch (33-by-23-cm) baking dish. Pour the batter into the dish, cover tightly, and chill 8 to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Let the batter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Make the nut crumble
- While the chilled batter comes to room temperature, in a medium bowl, stir together all of the nut crumble ingredients.
- Sprinkle the batter with the nut crumble. Bake in the preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
Make the drizzle icing
- In a medium bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar and milk until glossy and looks like satin ribbons when a spoon is lifted from the bowl.
- Drizzle the icing over the cake and serve.
Notes
- Storage–Leftover cake can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.
- Individual portions–For a quick snack or dessert, freeze individual slices of the cake, well-wrapped in plastic.
- Substitutions–If nut allergies are a concern, leave the nuts out of the crumble. The topping will be more like a streusel, but it will be every bit as delicious.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
We’re all about cinnamon coffee cake in our household and I’ll definitely add this make-ahead cinnamon coffee cake recipe to my arsenal of options. Easy to put together, everyday ingredients that you’d either have on-hand or are convenient to find, flexible with the timing of when you’d need to make it. Plus, if there are any leftovers, they’ll last a few days in the fridge.
Because this recipe made a generous amount, I shared it with various groups of friends. The feedback was all positive. Some thought it was more on the sweeter side and better suited for an afternoon snack or dessert. Others thought the sweetness was just right and paired well with morning coffee or tea.
The topping taste and crunch factor was the highlight for everyone—many requested I just make more topping and serve that on its own. (It would be good on yogurt or ice cream!)
The drizzle was a nice touch but the quantity was a bit too much for our liking. For future batches, I’ll include the icing, just less of it. Also, to help balance the sweetness, I did add a pinch of salt to the topping mixture.
For prep, I wanted to assemble the nut crumble together the day before, which I did, then kept it in a bowl in the fridge until when I was ready to bake. I took both the pan of batter and bowl of nut crumble topping out to come to room temp at the same time, which worked perfectly.
I was intrigued by the “make-ahead” nature of this cinnamon coffee cake recipe. I enjoy making something for Sunday mornings. The recipe was uncomplicated and the fact that most of the work is completed the day before, is a real bonus.
I’ll be making it again. The recipe is accessible to cooks of all levels and it would be a great recipe to try with children learning to bake.
Warm from the oven, the texture of the coffee cake was very light and lacy, almost delicate. The flavor was excellent, although I could make a case for adding cloves or cardamom to the batter. I substituted sea salt for the table salt in the batter.
The cake is even better the day after. It was very good warm on Sunday, but it did lack the density I love in a crumb cake. The following day, the cake was less airy and had a little more heft to it. We are working our way through the entire pan!
The world can always use another coffee cake recipe. I’ll be adding this one to my Sunday rotation.
You could debate whether the world needs another coffee cake recipe but once you make this one, you’ll say the answer is yes. Coffee cake recipes are a dime a dozen but this make-ahead cinnamon coffee cake stands head and shoulders above most others I’ve tried. Even the sour cream coffee cake recipes.
I’m not sure if it was the make-ahead part—the headnote only talks about that being a time saver and not a cake enhancer—or simply the blend of the ingredients but it produced one of the most flavorful, light, and airy coffee cakes I have ever had. And to have that fluffy cake topped with crunchy nuts coated with a wonderful glaze, well, the world needs this recipe. There were no tricky or challenging parts.
Sounds delicious, but ought to be: Too much of two different creams. Reminds me of Julia Child. You could make rocks delicious, if you cooked that way.
We’re all about making things taste delicious, Jim.