Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe - The Domestic Diva (2024)

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Hand's down, the best coffee cake you'll ever eat. You won't believe how easy it is to make. Turn a simple boxed cake mix into a cinnamon swirl coffee cake that tastes like its from your favorite coffeeshop.

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Don’t let the name fool you. Coffee cake doesn’t have any coffee in it. This coffee cake recipe gets its name because it is recommended to serve alongside your favorite cup of joe.

Not a coffee fan, not a problem. Coffee cake is one of those desserts that everyone in the family enjoys.

Bursting with cinnamon flavor, each time I make this coffee cake recipe it is devoured in just a few days time. My family loves it.

Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe - The Domestic Diva (1)

This recipe is best made in a bundt pan. I prefer to use either a traditional metal bundt pan. However, a silicone bundt pan often makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan after baking. With silicone bundt pans you can push the cake out because of the flexible structure of the “pan”.

Give this Cake as a Gift

This mini-bundt pan would make the perfect sized little bundt cinnamon swirl coffee cakes to give away as a surprise gift to someone. If you choose to use a mini-bundt pan, please keep in mind that you will need to adjust the cooking time of the mini coffeecakes. They will more than likely cook faster in a mini pan than a regular sized bundt pan.

Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe - The Domestic Diva (2)

Do you eat coffee cake with coffee?

Get the entire coffeehouse experience without even leaving your house. Learn how to make two coffeehouse classics, Caramel Macchiato and Iced Coffee, in your own kitchen.

These recipes tastes so much better than a trip to your local coffeeshop, you might prefer to stay-in instead. Your wallet will thank you, if you do.

Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe

thedomesticdiva.org

Hand’s down, the best coffee cake you’ll ever eat. You won’t believe how easy it is to make. Turn a simple boxed cake mix into a cinnamon swirl coffee cake that tastes like its from your favorite coffeeshop.

4.95 from 18 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12 people

Ingredients

  • 1 yellow boxed cake mix + ingredients according to package (usually water, oil, and eggs)
  • 1 stick cold, unsalted butter
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F.

  • Grease bundt pan and set aside. I use coconut oil to grease my pan but you could use any nonstick cooking spray that you prefer.

  • Mix yellow cake mix according to package instructions and set aside.

  • In a bowl, mix together all of the remaining ingredients except the cold butter.

  • Cut the cold butter and mix into the dry ingredients. I found it easiest to use my hands to squish the butter and dry ingredients together until they formed a crumbly texture. (See Notes)

  • Pour half of the cake batter into your greased bundt pan.

  • Sprinkle half of the crumb topping mixture onto the cake mix.

  • Pour the remaining cake batter on top of the crumb topping.

  • (Optional) Swirl the batter slightly by making small circles in the batter with a butter knife, just once around the pan. This step is not necessary but will swirl the crumb topping in the middle of your cake, ever so slightly.

  • Evenly distribute the remaining crumb topping to the top of the cake.

  • Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

  • Remove from oven, and allow to cool completely in the pan.

  • Once cooled completely, remove from the pan, slice and enjoy.

Notes

If you don’t want to use your hands to cut the butter into the dry ingredients, a pastry cutter is the perfect tool for this job.

Check out my favorite kitchen gadgets for stay-at-home chefs on Amazon.

Keyword Cake, Coffee, Coffeecake

Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe - The Domestic Diva (4)

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Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe - The Domestic Diva (2024)

FAQs

What makes coffee cake different from cake? ›

The difference between coffee cake and regular cake is the topping. Coffee cake and regular cake are made with the same ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and butter and a leavening agent like baking powder. The difference is that instead of frosting on top, coffee cakes have crumble or streusel.

Who makes cinnamon swirl cake mix? ›

Cozy up with Duncan Hines® Dolly Parton's Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Cake & Muffin Mix. Easy to make and deliciously decadent, this crumb cake mix is the perfect way to serve up some sweetness.

What does sour cream do in baking? ›

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

How do you increase the flavor of coffee in a cake? ›

Here's how we made it happen:
  1. Infuse the Batter With Coffee Two Ways. Bakers know that that the easiest way to get coffee flavor into a baked good is to add instant espresso powder to the batter. ...
  2. Add a Mocha Swirl. ...
  3. Pack the Crumb Topping with Coffee, Too. ...
  4. Finish with a Boozy Latte Glaze.
Apr 28, 2015

What makes coffee cake taste like coffee cake? ›

2) Add Coffee to Your Cream and Icing

Another way to add zing to a coffee cake recipe is to put more coffee in the cream, the icing and pretty much everything else. Again, you can do so in the form of super-strong liquid coffee if preferred, or go the dry way.

What is the fancy name for coffee cake? ›

American Coffee cake—also referred to as gugelhupf or Austrian German: kaffekuchen—evolved from other sweet dishes from Vienna. In the 17th century, Northern/Central Europeans are thought to have come up with the idea of eating sweet cakes while drinking coffee.

What brand of cake mix is the most moist? ›

I tried 3 boxed white-cake mixes to see which is the best. I'm a baker and I made white cake using boxed mixes from Pillsbury, Duncan Hines, and Betty Crocker. The Duncan Hines cake was moist, not overly sweet, and the fluffiest of the three.

Do professional cake makers use cake mix? ›

As a professional baker, I don't often use boxed mixes, but I appreciate how easily they bring a cake together. I think premade mixes are great for beginners gaining confidence around the kitchen and also for last-minute cake "emergencies."

Is it better to put sour cream or milk in a cake? ›

Baking with Sour Cream: The creamy texture of sour cream makes baked goods more moist than if you used milk. This makes sour cream an excellent choice for recipes that are known to have drier results, like sponge cakes.

Does butter or oil make a cake more moist? ›

Texture:Cakes made with oil tend to be moister and have a more tender crumb. Oil coats the flour proteins better than butter, resulting in a softer texture. Cakes made with butter can have a richer flavor and a slightly firmer texture. Butter contributes to a more traditional and dense cake structure.

Why add sour cream to boxed cake mix? ›

Sour cream adds moisture without thinning your batter the same way that a liquid would. That fact that sour cream delivers moisture without further thinning out a batter results in a cake with a very tender, very fine crumb.

Can I use ground coffee instead of instant in a recipe? ›

No matter how you approach it, using coffee grounds in your baking will indeed work as a sufficient fill-in for instant espresso, and they will give your dessert the coffee-like flavor it deserves.

Can I add coffee to box cake mix? ›

You can add either a teaspoon or more of instant coffee, depending on how strong you want the coffee flavor to be, or you can brew some very strong coffee and substitute it for some or all of the liquid the mix calls for.

Why is my coffee cake so dry? ›

A dry cake is usually the result of one of the following pitfalls: using the wrong ingredients, making mistakes while measuring or mixing the batter, or baking the cake too long or at too high a temperature. Once you understand which common cake-baking blunders to avoid, you'll know how to bake a moist cake every time.

Why doesn t coffee cake have coffee in it? ›

It's simply a treat that pairs well with a hot cup of joe. What is this? That means if there is caffeine in your coffee cake, it comes from added ingredients. Most coffee cake recipes use all-purpose flour, which doesn't contain any caffeine.

Does coffee cake have to have coffee? ›

Curiously, coffee cake contains zero coffee itself. I think (and I am totally speculating here) that it's meant to be served with coffee, sort of in the tradition of tea. My sleuthing on the internet points to origins in German yeasted cakes, but it's not entirely clear.

What is the difference between a coffee cake or pound cake? ›

A coffee cake is a traditional pound cake with a single layer of cinnamon-flavored simple cake with swirls. Contrary to how it's called coffee cake, it doesn't have any coffee ingredients. A coffee cake is a sweet treat with bread-like consistency, texture, and taste served with coffee or tea.

What does adding coffee to cake mix do? ›

Its rich, bittersweet flavour adds depth to cakes, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, muffins, loaves, and soufflés. It boosts the chocolatey appeal of Fudge Layer Cake with Chocolate Avocado Icing, Coffee Brownies and soft, fudgy Coffee Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.

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