Steeping my coffee cake game to a whole new level with a super moist yogurt buttermilk coffee cake, complete with coffee brown sugar cinnamon swirls, coffee streusel crumble, and a sweet coffee glaze.
Wake up, San Francisco! It’s time to drink your coffee and eat it too. — Everything is better with coffee. There’s something magical that happens with desserts when you pair them next to a perfectly brewed up o’ joe. This past weekend, I ordered some killer pastries from a local bakery. Maybe getting a box of pastries ordered for breakfast just means you are super lazy, but it was the (almost) perfect decision. What pushed it all over the edge was when I settled down on the couch with a blanket, two annoying cats, my coffee in one hand and croissant in the other. This got me thinking about the iconic pairing and how I might be able to step it up a bit for a recipe. Coffee cake with coffee actually in it. This delicious coffee cake is loaded with coffee brown sugar cinnamon swirls, topped with coffee streusel crumbles, and finished with a… you guessed it, coffee glaze.
I decided to go with the triple threat of coffee because I get a bit bored with desserts that feature an exciting ingredient and then after a taste you couldn’t pinpoint what the star of the show was. This isn’t just like shooting espresso shots or anything, but it certainly doesn’t hide the rich, warm coffee flavors. Adding the brew to the coffee cake that already has a great balance of spices and sweet couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. You get a beautiful warmness from the cinnamon and all of the nostalgic crumb with a whole new depth with the simple addition.
I think the reason I like coffee cake so much, and have for as long as I can remember, is because of that dreamy crumble on top. Every dessert is a better dessert when it has a streusel on top, right?! Add a few Georgia pecans on top (because that’s what my family does to everything, tbh) and a few spoonfuls of freshly ground coffee into the mix and you’ve got yourself a breakfast, brunch, and dessert party. A splash of coffee-spiked glaze and you’ve got an all-out masquerade. Enjoy, y’all!
- 12 tablespoons butter, unsalted, room temperature
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, whole
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1 cup yogurt, whole milk
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- 2¼ cups flour, all-purpose
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons coffee, ground
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter, unsalted, room temp
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons coffee, brewed and cooled
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- ½ cup pecans
- ½ cup raspberries
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Grease and flour very well an 8 to 10 inch tube or bundt pan. I recommend this pan.
- In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes at medium speed.
- Add eggs while slowly continuing to mix, one at a time until each is incorporated.
- Mix in yogurt, buttermilk and vanilla.
- Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk well.
- Add dry ingredients and gently mix until just fully incorporated. It will be a somewhat thick batter.
- Transfer HALF of the batter into the prepared pan.
- Mix all dry ingredients into a bowl.
- Dice butter and mix with your hands, pressing the mixture into the butter.
- Press until you have crumbles.
- Place half of the crumble mixture on top of the half-filled pan.
- Transfer the remaining batter over the crumble lined mix in the pan.
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes before carefully sliding out of the oven and topping with the remaining crumble. This prevents it from sinking into the cake.
- Cook until a skewer comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Be cautious to not overbake.
- Remove and cool completely.
- Whisk the coffee and powdered sugar to make the glaze.
- Finish the cake with pecans, raspberries, and a drizzle of the coffee glaze.
- Find more recipes on SouthernFatty.com!
Attachment
Cake turned out to be amazing!! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I ruined my glaze. But will practice more to get it right!:)
Thank you
I don’t have a Bundt pan or other circular baking dish yet. Have you ever tried to make this recipe in another type of dish? Thanks!
Sure! I think it is best in a tube or Bundt pan (about $12 on Amazon here), but you can certainly bake it in a conventional pan as well. A typical 9-inch tube pan is around 8 cups, so you would split it into two 9-inch round cake pans. A loaf pan would also work. Just be cautious of your baking time and bake until a knife comes out cleanly. Would be easy to under or over bake.
Let me know how it goes!
-Phillip
Have a photo to share? Tag us on social using @southernfatty / #southernfatty!
This looks great. I have one question. You refer to it more than once as a yogurt buttermilk coffee cake, but I don’t see buttermilk in the ingredients list or the directions. Was it omitted, or is there truly no buttermilk in this?
Thanks for catching that! It looks like I typed out the recipe for one of the test batches instead of the final. Oops! I’ve updated it. Not much diff. I swapped some yogurt for real buttermilk. Enjoy!
-Phillip
Have a photo to share?
Tag us on social using @southernfatty / #southernfatty!