Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake — Between the cinnamon-sugar crust AND the cinnamon-sugar swirled through the center, this EASY coffee cake is IRRESISTIBLE!! Soft, fluffy, light, and of course it’s perfect with coffee!!
Table of Contents
The Best Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe EVER
There’s plenty of cinnamon-sugar in this cake and I’m not complaining, nor did anyone in my family when they tried it.
First, there’s a ribbon of cinnamon-sugar swirled through the center of the cake. Not only is it eye-catching and pretty, it tastes damn good too.
Second, the outside of the cake has a cinnamon-sugar crust, which is accomplished simply by adding cinnamon-sugar to a cooking-sprayed Bundt pan and rolling it around. Why grease and flour a pan when you can cinnamon-sugar it instead?
It’s a fast, easy, and an unfussy kind of cake that comes together in minutes — the only kind I make. The bundt cinnamon swirled coffee cake is soft, fluffy, and isn’t heavy or overly dense.
Serve this coffee cake at the next brunch you’re hosting, enjoy it with your morning cup of coffee, or have a piece as an afternoon pick-me-up cup. There’s never a wrong time to enjoy coffee + cake.
Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake Ingredients
To make this ultra moist cinnamon bundt coffee cake recipe, you’ll need the following:
- Ground cinnamon
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Sour cream
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake
This recipe for a classic bundt pan coffee cake with a cinnamon swirl running throughout is so quick and easy to prepare!
- Whisk together the cinnamon sugar. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray, then coat with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Then, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients last.
- Turn half the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, then sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over top. Pour the remaining batter over that.
- Bake the bundt coffee cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no batter.
How to Add a Cinnamon Swirl to Coffee Cake
When pouring the batter into the bundt pan, you first only add half of the mixture to the pan. Make sure you don’t add more than half; novice bakers tend to underestimate how much batter they’re adding, and the problem is that you then don’t have sufficient batter to properly complete the cake.
How to Tell When Coffee Cake Is Done
Since all ovens, pans, climates, etc. are different, I recommend starting to check on the cake at the 30- to 35-minute mark, and keep a close eye on it from there until it’s done; don’t overbake or your homemade coffee cake will be dry.
Watch your cinnamon swirl cake and not the clock and if it takes a bit less or longer for your cake to be sufficiently baked than my baking time estimates, do what is needed for your cake.
Recipe FAQs
There’s one cup of sour cream in the batter, which helps keep the cake light, it adds a very slight tanginess, and it prevents the cake from being overly sweet.
You may be able to use plain Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. However, I have not tried substituting Greek yogurt so I cannot speak from experience how it will taste or what the results will be.
You could possibly divide this cake batter between two 9-inch cake pans, but I haven’t tried this myself so I can’t say for sure.
Absolutely! This is the perfect cake to make in advance and freeze for later since there’s no icing or glaze in the recipe. Let the cake cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap and sealing in a freezer bag. You can freeze the entire cake or individual slices.
The obvious pairing for cinnamon swirl coffee cake is, duh, coffee. Hot tea would also be great! You just need a slightly bitter drink to complement the slightly sweet, spiced cake.
The cake can also be served with fresh berries, a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce, or something similar. I just serve the cake as is because the whole point of this recipe is to keep things simple!
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Cinnamon Sugar Swirl Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cinnamon-Sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Cake
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the Cinnamon-Sugar:
- Add both ingredients to a small bowl and stir to combine.
Make the Coffee Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan very well with cooking spray and add about 1/3 cup of the cinnamon-sugar to the pan. Carefully roll the cinnamon-sugar around the pan, getting it into all the nooks and crannies, so the pan is well coated in cinnamon-sugar; set both the Bundt pan and remaining cinnamon-sugar aside.
- To a large bowl, add the butter, sugar, and cream (beat) on high speed with a handheld electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, and beat on high speed to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Add the sour cream and beat on high speed to incorporate.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and beat on low speed or mix by hand until incorporated; don't overmix or cake will be tough.
- Turn half the batter out into the prepared Bundt pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Tip - Make sure you don't add more than half; novice bakers tend to underestimate how much batter they're adding and the problem is that you then don't have sufficient batter to properly complete the cake. Set remaining batter aside.
- Evenly sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar over the cake batter. It may look like a lot but it melts into the batter/cake while baking.
- Turn the remaining cake batter out over the cinnamon-sugar layer, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no batter. Since all ovens, pans, climates, etc. are different, I recommend starting to check on the cake at the 30 to 35-minute mark, and keep a close eye on it from there until it's done; don't overbake or it will be dry. Watch your cake and not the clock and if it takes a bit less or longer for your cake to be sufficiently baked than my baking time estimates, do what is needed for your cake.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before inverting it onto a serving platter and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This may be the best cake I’ve ever made! Swirling the cinnamon sugar mixture around the Bundt pan before adding the batter is brilliant! It makes a wonderful crust on the outside of the cake. I admit for the filling, I added 1T graham cracker crumbs, 1T brown sugar, 2T pecan meal and 1T melted butter. I served this to friends and the raves were never-ending! Thanks Averie, for such a terrific recipe!
This looks great. I plan to make it for my Creativity Circle meeting next weekend now that we can do a social distance get together. I am sure it will end up with 5 star rating :) Thanks!
Wonderful!
Could I use a min in bundt pan and make small cakes?
Probably. Test it out and see what happens.
I’ve made this cake twice (so far) and both times it came out GREAT. My 22 year oldson keeps requesting it over and over again. Going in for a third time. I’m sure there will be nothing left of it tomorrow.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you are on a roll with this cake and made it a third time!
I’ve made this cake twice (so far) and both times it came out GREAT. My 22 year oldson keeps requesting it over and over again. Going in for a third time. I’m sure there will be nothing left of it tomorrow.
The cake was excellent and well received at my meeting. 😊 Thanks again for your prompt reply and confidence. I WILL make this recipe AGAIN.
Glad it turned out excellent and was a hit!
Anxious to try my cake👍. But… It did not seem to rise a lot. Kind of confused by it.
Not sure why it didn’t rise a lot but honestly it’s not a super tall, really high-rising cake, there’s only 1/2 tsp baking soda in it. But I’m sure your cake tastes great!
This is a easy and most delicious cake to make . I have made much more involved cakes, that didn’t compare to this great recipe. Thank You, it is a keeper!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad this is a keeper for you! I agree – I too have made much more involved cakes that don’t compare.
This is a easy and most delicious cake to make . I have made much more involved cakes, that didn’t compare to this great recipe. Thank You, it is a keeper!
Wow, I just baked this cake, it is amazing, and so easy. I carefully watched the baking time as instructed and it is very moist. Thank you so much for posting this.
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad it turned out amazing for you!
Wow, I just baked this cake, it is amazing, and so easy. I carefully watched the baking time as instructed and it is very moist. Thank you so much for posting this.
Ooh, love the idea of coating the pan in cinnamon sugar. I would just want to peel the outer layer off and eat it, haha.
And we did just that – that outer layer was soooo good!
In your recipe, you say to add “cream” then later say to add “sour cream”. Confused. Dying to try but directions confusing.
‘and cream on high speed with a handheld electric mixer until light and fluffy’ is a baking term meaning to beat, whip, etc. Cream is a verb here, not a noun (ingredient).
I see Cream (#4. Cake, add butter, sugar, cream) in the directions but I don’t see cream in the ingredients list, other than sour cream (and you say later to add sour cream). Am I missing something?
Yes you are missing that ‘and cream on high speed with a handheld electric mixer until light and fluffy’ is a baking term. Cream is a verb here, not a noun (ingredient).
Ha, I was also confused. Thanks for asking to clarify the ‘cream’ . Happy baking !!
I love a coffee cake with sour cream in it–you never have to worry about dryness. The cinnamon sugar crust looks so yummy–I love that type of texture too!
You’re so right with regard to the sour cream! I almost called it ‘sour cream coffee cake’ but for people not familiar with it, I thought that would create confusion so went with this title instead.
The texture was just perfect too! We devoured this cake!
you will not be disappointed, it’s delicious
If I want to make the cinnamon swirl, but I don’t have the mould, can I use a normal cake pan?
I am not sure… I would divide the batter into two cake pans at least. Way too much batter for one normal cake pan unless you’re talking about a 9×13.
Fair enough. I shall make decisions when I finally make it