Coffee Cake Recipes: 15 Delicious Pairings For Your Cuppa Joe

Coffee cake recipes range far and wide. But the base ultimately comes down to a sweet and airy cake with a crumb topping that balances out the bitterness of your brew. Coffee cakes come in creamy, fruity, vegan, and gluten-free versions to suit every taste and diet.

Prepare your baking powder, brown sugar, and coffee, of course. Here are 15 delicious ideas to get you started.

What Is Coffee Cake?

Coffee cake recipes in the US commonly refer to cinnamon spice-infused sponge cakes topped with streusel. The crumb topping is made from butter, flour, and sugar. Other types of delicious coffee cake recipes, like the ones prevalent in the UK, describe double-layered, coffee-flavored sponge cakes sprinkled with walnuts as well as a coffee-infused buttercream for fillings and toppings (1).

Let’s dive into coffee cakes! We’ll focus on popular US ones, which generally don’t have coffee in them but go great alongside it. You’ll keep coming back for more of these good coffee desserts. 

1. Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Sour cream is a surprisingly sweet addition to this moist coffee cake recipe. Thanks to this key ingredient, each bite of your traditional cinnamon streusel coffee cake will be better and lighter. But if you’re not a sour cream fan, you can swap in any kind of Greek yogurt instead. 

Sour cream doesn’t just make this cake more delicious. It enhances the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K, and improves your immune function and digestion due to its probiotic contents (2). 

Make this cake extra tasty with a drizzle of vanilla icing and savor the flavor as it melts in your mouth with every delicious creamy bite. I guarantee you won’t need creamer as you sip your coffee with it! 

2. Blueberry Coffee Cake

Blueberries are a berry great treat – as good for you as they are delicious! They’ll make your coffee cake burst with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals while managing your cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure. Use fresh berries when you can, but frozen ones work well, too. 

We like to make a lemon glaze to balance the sweetness by mixing lemon juice and powdered sugar. Drizzle it over your cake while it’s still hot, fresh from the oven. The added tartness is just right against the sweet berries.

Don’t have blueberries? You can still get your fruit fix by subbing in blackberries or strawberries.

3. Cinnamon Coffee Cake

You can’t make the best coffee cake without cinnamon. Cinnamon crumb cake is a timeless classic. It’s the vanilla of coffee cake flavors, if you’ll pardon the somewhat mixed metaphor, and a beloved crowd favorite. 

Cinnamon is the staple spice to sprinkle over your frothy lattes or creamy cappuccinos, making cinnamon coffee cake a natural pairing with your morning brew. Just make sure to lightly press down on the cinnamon streusel topping sprinkled on the cake so the crumbs stick for a better look.

This is the go-to cinnamony and buttery dessert for when you’ve got company. Serve up a slice with a hot cuppa joe and wait for the requests for seconds to start rolling in. 

4. Bisquick Coffee Cake

Are you a coffee lover who is tight on time yet still wants to make a tasty dessert to go with your brew? This quick and easy coffee cake recipe using Bisquick is the answer. Bisquick is a pre-made baking mix made from enriched flour bleached, corn starch, leavening, dextrose, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and monoglycerides. 

Bisquick keeps for up to a year, so you’ll always have some on hand to whip up a Bisquick coffee cake whenever the occasion calls for it. You can also use it to make coffee-infused pancakes or waffles (yum!).

5. Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Can you imagine the heavenly experience your taste buds would undergo if they could enjoy a nutty pumpkin spice latte with an even nuttier pumpkin coffee cake? Talk about a welcoming pumpkin spice sensory overload! 

Put your pumpkin puree to good use this fall by making this warming coffee cake sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup. Top it with vanilla or salted caramel icing, or some good old whipped cream, and sprinkle on the pumpkin pie spices we all know and love! Make sure to get all the good stuff with ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg spices.

6. Sugar-Free Coffee Cakes

Yes, there are coffee cakes with no added sugar! This is great news for keto dieters, coffee-and-cake lovers with diabetes, or those simply looking to reduce their sugar intake. As long as you use a sugar substitute like Splenda, Stevia, or Sweet N’ Low, you can still have your sweet cake and eat it, too. 

You can even make a sugar-free glaze for a decorative touch that also adds an extra sweet kick. Combine a sweetener alternative with cornstarch, milk, and vanilla extract.

7. Apple Coffee Cake

We know an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and there’s no rule that apple can’t come in the form of coffee cake – at least no rule I want to abide by!

Apples make your coffee cake extra sweet and moist. Throw in a cup of sour cream, and you’re in for a really tender treat. Curate the level of sweetness based on the apples you pick, such as Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, or Empire. Peel 2-3 apples, remove their cores, and finely chop them. Cut up some slices to decorate the top of your coffee cake in flower spirals, bake, and enjoy fresh from the oven with a piping hot cuppa joe!

8. Vegan Coffee Cake

How do you make your coffee cake vegan? It’s easier than you think! Substitutes like vegan butter, coconut oil, and applesauce can eliminate the need for eggs and dairy-based butter. And any vegan coffee lover probably already has a favorite non-dairy milk. Then it’s just a matter of sugar, flour, and spices. It makes for a stellar breakfast and a perfect pairing for your oat milk latte.

9. Gluten-Free Coffee Cake

Being gluten-free myself, I am delighted to share that delicious gluten-free cakes are a thing! With this easy coffee cake recipe, you’ll still experience a soft, buttery, and moist cinnamon-topped coffee cake. 

It’s important to note that the type of gluten-free flour you choose will slightly alter the result. Some bakers even advise against using almond flour or coconut flour depending on the other ingredients involved. A good choice is an all-purpose gluten-free rice flour that already has xanthan gum in it. Add xanthan gum to your recipe only if your flour doesn’t have it. Otherwise, too much of it will yield a gummy quality in your coffee cake.

10. Banana Coffee Cake

Have a couple of overripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter? Surprise your loved ones by tossing a few bananas into a coffee cake rather than making banana bread. You’re unprepared for the level of fluffiness you’re about to experience. 

If you have any cake leftover, which is doubtful given the amount of deliciousness here, you can cut it up and keep it refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Bring the slices as little snacks to school or work. In the freezer, it will last up to an entire month. Let it thaw fully at room temperature before enjoying it with coffee.

11. Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

If you’re a cheese lover, you’ll have the best morning of your life with a breakfast consisting of a slice of cream cheese coffee cake and a cup of coffee cheese, or Kaffeost. And lest you think a cheese-based breakfast sounds too heavy, know that this creamy pairing is full of antioxidants, vitamin A, probiotics, calcium, and protein (3). Say cheese, eat up, and prepare to crush your day!

12. Buttermilk Coffee Cake

You know when you leave a baked good out for a few days, and the last few bites become sadly dry and sawdust-esque? Buttermilk is the antidote to that problem. It’s the perfect baking fix to preserve the moisture of your coffee cakes and other sweets for days. Plus, the buttermilk’s tanginess compliments the granulated sugar’s sweetness and adds a rich buttery flavor without adding fat. 

Fortified buttermilk is a great source of vitamins A and D, calcium, phosphorus, protein, potassium, probiotics, and riboflavin. It is actually easier for those who are lactose-intolerant to drink. Buttermilk also boosts your energy, enhances your digestive health, strengthens your bones, and regulates cholesterol levels (4).

13. Peach Coffee Cake

Nothing makes a coffee cake more delectable than the addition of fresh fruit. Peaches make for an exceptionally rich, soft center and a vibrant coffee cake topping when drizzled with cinnamon or vanilla. Use sliced fresh, canned, or frozen peaches for the perfect spring brunch pick. Drizzle peach icing, syrup, or compote over the top for even more peach flavor. Bake ahead, cool, and tightly wrap it in aluminum foil to surprise your loved ones or be the life of the party.

14. Raspberry Coffee Cake

Raspberries give coffee cakes a welcoming splash of color and much-appreciated hits of juicy texture. Their blend of sweetness and tang is a wonderful taste of summer, and it pairs perfectly with a light cake base and cinnamon spicing. You can use fresh or frozen raspberries in this case, which means you can easily enjoy the flavors of summer year-round!

15. Grandma Coffee Cake

Just like grandma used to make! Whether she did or not, now you can! Grandma coffee cake can mean many different types of recipes, from cinnamon coffee cake to sour cream coffee cake to chocolate chip coffee cake to lemon poppy seed coffee cake and more. 

For a more objective answer to what grandma coffee cake is, My Grandma’s of New England is a company that was founded in 1990. It’s currently known as the “World’s Most Critically Acclaimed Coffee Cake,” specializing in a famous cinnamon walnut coffee cake (5).

Wrapping Up

Did you enjoy this list of coffee cake recipes? Let us know what you think is the best coffee cake recipe in the comments, and feel free to share this article with your loved ones. Or, better yet, go ahead and bake one of these coffee cakes as a surprise for your coffee-loving friends and family. You’re sure to be the star of the next brunch.