Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

This streusel cinnamon swirl coffee cake is a simple recipe packed with cinnamon flavors. It has a light and moist texture, with an irresistible crunchy cinnamon sugar crumb topping. Perfect for breakfast, coffee break or dessert, this will soon become a favorite in your house too!

If you’re looking for a recipe that tastes like a cinnamon roll but without the effort of kneading the dough, this cinnamon swirl coffee cake is exactly what you need. With just a few basic ingredients and 20 minutes preparation, the cake is ready to go to the oven. The streusel topping is optional but highly recommended. While cake is baking, enjoy this enchanting cinnamon aroma that is slowly rising in your house, and make sure you make yourself a hot chocolate to pair with the coffee cake. Cinnamon and chocolate are always the perfect combo.

With so many existing cinnamon cake recipes, you may wonder why the need to add one more to the table. Here’s why: this recipe is not your regular coffee cake. It has a light, moist, and tender texture, and is really quick and easy to prepare.

A Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

This year will definitely be the year of easy cake recipes for me. Even with a newborn in the house, there was no way I would give up on cakes. So instead I focused on quick and simple cake recipes with minimal baking equipment (basically a mixing bowl and a whisk).

The French yogurt cake recipe, aka no-measurement cake, became my new reference to create many cake variations, and this cinnamon swirl coffee cake is just one more example. This brings me to the nature of this cake: is this a basic coffee cake? A pound cake? What’s the difference anyway?

Coffee cake or pound cake? A classic cinnamon pound cake is buttery, dense, and sometimes a little bit dry. This is not what this cake is. In this coffee cake, butter is replaced with vegetable oil, which makes the cake lighter in texture. Also, the addition of yogurt brings some moisture to the texture. The result is soft, tender, and just perfect to serve along with a cup of coffee (rather than dipping it in some coffee like you would do with pound cake).

Create lovely cinnamon swirls

Now the particularity of this cinnamon coffee cake is of course the cinnamon swirls inside. If you’re familiar with marble cakes, this is the same principle, except that here you replace cocoa powder with ground cinnamon. So here’s how to:

1. Prepare plain cake batter (without the cinnamon!).
2. Scoop out about 1/3 of the cake batter in a separate bowl + add cinnamon. Keep in mind that 1/3 of the cake is about 1 and 1/3 cup or 260g (but this doesn’t need to be exact).
3. Add half of the plain cake batter to the prepared loaf pan, top with the layer of cinnamon cake batter, making sure it covers the surface, then finish up with the plain cake batter.
4. Make some gentle swirls in the batter, going through it with a knife just once (don’t over-swirl), and voilà!

How to make the streusel topping?

The streusel topping is basically a sugar crumb topping, close to the one you use when you make a berry crumble or an apple crisp. The correct way to prepare it is to add all dry ingredients at once, then add cubed (and cold!) butter, pinching with your finger tips to smash the butter in pea-size bites. The texture should remain coarse and resemble to thin crumbs (don’t overmix). Then spread the streusel over the cake in an even layer.

Can I make the cake without the streusel topping? Yes! this cake is delicious on its own and you could totally pass on the streusel topping, especially if you are watching your sugar intake closely.

For the cinnamon lovers, try also:

• Swedish Cinnamon Rolls “Kanelbullar”
• Cinnamon Star Bread (+ VIDEO_
• Churro Cinnamon Sugar Tarte Soleil
• American Apple Pie

Other easy coffee cake recipes:

• Chocolate Chip Almond Yogurt Cake
• Easy Chocolate Marble Yogurt Cake
• Best Ever Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf
• Easy Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Ultra Moist Orange Pound Cake

Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

• 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 3 reviews
• Leave a Review

Print

Pin

• Author: Delphine Fortin
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
• Yield: 8 servings 1x
• Category: Cakes and pies
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

This streusel cinnamon swirl coffee cake is a simple recipe packed with cinnamon flavors. It has a light and moist texture, with an irresistible crunchy cinnamon sugar crumb topping.

Email me this recipe

We’ll send it straight to your inbox, along with weekly food inspiration!

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the cinnamon swirl coffee cake:

• 5 ounces (140g) plain yogurt
• ¾ cup (150g) sugar
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil, neutral in taste (canola, sunflower…)
• 3 large eggs
• 1  ¾ cup (210g) all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the streusel topping:

• ¼ cup (50g) sugar
• ¼ cup (30g) all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons (30g) butter, cold and cubed

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease the bottom and the sides of a 9×5-inch (23×13 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, pour the plain yogurt. Add sugar, eggs, and vegetable oil. Whisk until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir well.
4. Scoop ⅓ of the cake batter into a small bowl gently stir in the cinnamon until well-mixed.
5. Pour one layer of the plain cake batter into the prepared loaf pan, then spoon a few spoonfuls of the cinnamon cake batter. Repeat until all the batter has been used up, and make a few gentle swirls by inserting a knife into the batter.
6. For the streusel topping: Combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add the cold, cubed butter, and mix with your finger tips. The texture should remain coarse and resemble to thin crumbs (don’t overmix).
7. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake in an even layer, and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top is browning too fast, tent it with a piece of aluminum foil. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Back-To-School, Cakes, Christmas, Loaves, Snacks, Thanksgiving, Year Round

Did you make this recipe?

Lastly, if you make this Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!