Strawberry Coffee Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze — Sweet, juicy strawberries are found in every bite, and the cream cheese glaze is the perfect tangy complement to the creamy, sweet cake.
Easiest Strawberry Coffee Cake Recipe
I used every trick in the book I know to create a soft, moist, and tender buttermilk coffee cake recipe. All those tricks paid off, and it’s the best coffee cake I’ve ever made.
It comes together in one bowl in minutes. Not only that, but I combined all the ingredients in the bowl all together, all at once, rendering it like using cake mix. Dry, wet, oil, eggs, all at once, beat it together, pour it in the pan, and bake.
No sifting together dry ingredients and setting aside, then creaming butter and sugar until fluffy, or adding eggs, one by one, before carefully folding in the dry. Not necessary. Wham-bam, slap it in the pan.
A month ago I made this Blueberry and Jam Buttermilk Coffee Cake and couldn’t get it out of my mind. That cake almost uses the dump-together method, with just a very quick whisking of the dry ingredients before adding the wet. It used to be my favorite coffee cake, until this one.
For this strawberry coffee cake, I added sour cream in addition to buttermilk, and used oil instead of butter. The trifecta of sour cream, buttermilk, and oil is guaranteed to result in good cake karma.
They add moisture and richness, and the cake retains some lightness and fluffiness, courtesy of the buttermilk.
Before baking, I sprinkled turbinado sugar over the top, which creates a slightly crunchy, chewy, and sweet crust. Underneath the golden browned top lies a moist, rich, soft, creamy, dense, yet tender interior.
While baking, the top domes and the strawberries sprinkled on the surface before baking sink down, creating potholes and craters filled with sweet, juicy berries. Best potholes ever.
The vanilla coffee cake glaze is truly the icing on the cake. It’s sweet, tangy, and the perfect creamy complement to the strawberries and cake. If you have extra frosting and don’t eat it all with a spoon, use it as a dip for fresh fruit.
I love this cake. It’s my new go-to cake batter for fruit-based coffee cakes. Sweet, soft, tender, fast, and easy.
You can make this cake faster than you can go to the grocery store and buy one. It’s the perfect lazy weekend morning cake or for brunches or showers. Or for Wednesday nights after work.
Move over, Entenmann’s. I never need you again.
What’s in the Strawberry Coffee Cake?
To make this strawberry coffee cake recipe you’ll need:
- Egg
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Sour cream
- Buttermilk
- Oil
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
- Strawberries
- Turbinado sugar (optional)
And for the simple coffee cake glaze, you’ll need:
- Cream cheese
- Sugar (granulated or powdered)
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Strawberry Coffee Cake
Simply whisk together the coffee cake ingredients, then fold in the chopped strawberries. Turn the batter into a 9-inch springform pan and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
I baked it for 30 minutes at 400F, then lowered the temperature to 375F, and baked for 25 minutes. I probably should have pulled it out about 5 minutes before I did because the edges got a little dark, but I lost track of time. Whoops, it happens.
If at any time you feel your cake is becoming overly browned before the center is setting up, cover it with foil.
Let the coffee cake cool completely before drizzling with glaze.
Can I Use Frozen Strawberries?
Yes! Even though it’s strawberry season, I used frozen strawberries because my family ate the fresh ones I was going to bake with. I rarely bake with fresh fruit because it’s more expensive and usually gets eaten before I can squirrel some of it away to bake with.
If you’re using frozen fruit, thaw it only as much as necessary to slice it, before sprinkling it on top of the batter. Frozen fruit runs and bleeds less than thawed.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Yes, you can double the ingredients and bake it in a 9×13-inch pan. However, you may not need to double the glaze — it really just depends on how much glaze you like on your coffee cakes!
Tips for the Best Coffee Cake
Most any fresh or frozen fruit could be used in this recipe, including blackberries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, pears, plums, or cherries. This batter will make any fruit taste like a million bucks.
I baked it in a 9-inch springform pan, and although you maybe could get away with a standard 9-inch cake pan, I like being able to remove the ring so I don’t have to invert the cake to get it out. Plus, springform pans have higher sides and I like the extra insurance so there’s no chance of an overflow.
A tip is to place your springform pan on a baking sheet so if there’s a leak, the baking sheet catches it rather than the bottom of your oven.
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Strawberries and Cream Coffee Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sour cream, very thick Greek yogurt may be substituted, although I have not tested it
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 ¼ cups frozen or fresh strawberries, halved and loosely packed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons turbinado sugar, for sprinkling (2 tablespoons granulated sugar may be substituted)
Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
- about 3 ounces, about 1/3 cup cream cheese, softened
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar OR about 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, granulated sugar prevents glaze from getting as ‘crunchy’ when exposed to air, but doesn’t incorporate as smoothly as confectioners’ sugar
- 2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with floured cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside (I fear a regular 9-inch cake pan won’t quite be deep enough; but an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan is okay).
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and hand mixer), combine first 10 ingredients (through salt), and mix on medium-high speed until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix on medium-high speed until smooth and combined, about 1 minute.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan.
- Arrange strawberry slices uniformly over the top of batter (looks like a lot but they sink down and shrivel while baking).
- Evenly sprinkle with 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar.
- Bake at 400F for 30 minutes.
- Lower the temp to 375F and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until cake is golden, set in the center (it will likely be domed), not jiggly, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs dangling, but no batter.
- Allow cake to cool in pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before removing from pan and turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
- While the cake cools, make the glaze.
For the Glaze:
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and beat until smooth, either with a whisk or a mixer. Play with ratios of all ingredients to suit your tastes.
- Drizzle glaze over cake in big ribbons, going up and back, over the surface (the photos show the glaze skimpier because I wanted the strawberries to be visible, but I used all the glaze after the photos were completed).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Coffee Cake Recipes:
ALL OF MY COFFEE CAKE RECIPES!
Blueberry Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping — An EASY, no-mixer cake studded with juicy blueberries and topped with big buttery streusel nuggets that are just SO GOOD!!
Cinnamon 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!!
Coffee Crumb Cake— This coffee crumb cake recipe couldn’t be easier to make! It’s made with boxed yellow cake mix, which is used in both the batter and the crumble topping.
Glazed Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake — A very fast and straightforward cinnamon coffee cake to make and isn’t fussy at all. It’s moist, dense, and way easier to make than actual cinnamon rolls!
Glazed Pumpkin Coffee Cake – A FAST and EASY no-mixer pumpkin coffee cake with rich pumpkin flavor and topped with big buttery crumbles!!
Vanilla Coffee Cake — The cake has enough density to give it some heft and body, but it’s still light, springy, bouncy, and fluffy.
This is so pretty!! And I absolutely love how easy it is to make. Love!
SUPER easy! And thanks for the Pin!
Oh girl, this looks so delicious that I totally want to make it up this weekend. I have so many strawberries in the fridge, so I might just do it!
Guess, what ships out this weekend, your peanut butter comfort cookbook! I can’t wait. I can’t wait to make a recipe from it and post it on my blog with a link to Amazon to your cookbook. How cool is that? Seriously, how cool is that? You’re a cookbook author now and this is the first of many. You have created so many amazing recipes girl, you have to be so proud of yourself. I mean you did this all by yourself and how you manage to stay so skinny, I will never know! Ok, have a wonderful night and I just wanted to say congrats on everything girl, because you deserve it all! xoxo, Jackie
Thanks for the glowing comment & your support – now just here, but ALWAYS. You’re the best!
I just got my own book yesterday as posted to my instagram. I didn’t even know Amazon was shipping it out that fast! The official release date is June 4. I didn’t know if they ship on that day or if they ship a few days before or what. You’ll have to LMK when you get it!
oh Averie! I love this!! I absolutely LOVE fruit in cakes. . delish! and beautiful! and I am lusting over your plate. . it’s seriously so pretty!
Thrift store find. Cost me $1. I buy things as I see them, sometimes months/year(s) and broke it out for this shoot!
Jeez, Averie. This one looks really good but that cinnamon roll one looks pretty good, too!
While I do love that cinn roll cake, it tastes like cinn rolls, as a pure dough/cake base goes, this strawberry one is even moister!
What a beautiful coffee cake this is, Averie! Strawberries are certainly my favorite fruit to bake with. I love the cream cheese glaze too!
Mine too and I’ve been baking strawberry things so much lately!
Yum! Your cake looks incredible!!! I love strawberries and the glaze over the top, oh my!! Perfect recipe!
Strawberries are the best. Coffee cake is the best. Cream cheese is the best. So basically, this cannot get any better! Your picture of the sprinkles pancake is so gorgeous Averie!
I loved that pancake photo shoot! Thanks for noticing!
This looks great!
I would love for you to share and link up at my TGIF Link Party. The party is open every Thursday night and closes Wednesday’s at midnight.
https://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/2013/05/tgif-link-party-3.html
Have a wonderful week!
Hugs, Cathy
It sounds so dreamy – a perfect cake. It will be Mothr’s Day in Poland soon, I should make it for my mum :)
She’ll love you even more if you do :)
You have my tongue hanging out with this one, Averie! What a gorgeous coffee cake, so great for springtime brunches. Thanks for sharing!
I LOVE one bowl recipes! I like to skip steps and just throw everything together anyway, which often is a baaaad idea, so I especially love a recipe that will come out perfectly that way! I’m dreaming about it with blackberries!!
I’ve determined that for my family and for my blog readers, the less fussy a recipe is, the better! Adding eggs, 1 by 1, alternating with adding a flour mixture in small amts and beating after each addition, etc…I personally don’t find much difference when I do bake like that and it takes so much longer and is more complicated and readers get frustrated…so…why bother if it’s not really going to matter!
I’m really picky about coffee cake because it’s usually dry, but this looks awesome! Love the cream cheese glaze.
Between the oil, buttermilk, sour cream AND the glaze and the juicy fruit…this is the moistest coffee cake Ive ever tried or made, hands down!
Looks amazing Averie! Love the vanilla cream cheese glaze!
I love it, so tasty looking. I want to try it multiple times with different fruit each time, especially raspberries :)
And if only I could hang onto enough raspberries to actually bake with before my family (or me) scarfs them down. They are such a delicacy! Hands down, my fave coffee cake ever though! :)
Sour cream + buttermilk…I can only imagine how wonderful this must taste! Stunning photos too! (Love your pretty, delicate, plates.) xo
Between the oil, buttermilk, sour cream AND the glaze and the juicy fruit…this is the moistest coffee cake Ive ever tried or made, hands down!
And the plates…I pick things up whenever I see stuff at my thrift store to use for a rainy day. I think I bought these over a year ago? For about $1 each. Broke them out for this cake! Thanks for noticing!
I’m so excited that strawberries will be in season soon!!! And this cake… Gah!!! Seriously dreamy, Averie!
And even when they’re not, I used frozen, so you can make it year round :)