Christmas Coffee Cake

If you love making a special breakfast on Christmas morning or dessert, make this coffee cake. The warm spices mixed with the made from scratch cake batter makes this coffee cake a family favorite.

There is nothing better than waking up on Christmas with the sweet smells of cinnamon throughout your home. The crumb topping and the soft cake makes this coffee cake so delicious. See Christmas Morning Breakfast Ideas .

Why We Love This Recipe

We love that this coffee cake requires simple ingredients. It is perfect served as breakfast or as a holiday brunch.

Serve with some orange juice and a side of fruit for a delicious and filling breakfast.

Ingredients

Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe in the recipe card.

Variation Ideas

• Nuts – We love adding nuts to the top of the cake. But you can also make it without it. You can also substitute the pecans with chopped walnuts or slice almonds.
• Almond Extract – For a deeper flavor, substitute the vanilla extract for almond extract.
• Glaze – Feel free to make a glaze to drizzle over the cake. It would still be delicious with the crumble topping.
• Powdered Sugar – Feel free to sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of the coffee cake before serving.

How to Make Christmas Coffee Cake

• Step 1 – Heat Oven – Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9X13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. 

Step 2 – Mix Topping – Mix together the topping ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Step 3 – Combine butter and sugar – In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and cup sugar. Combine with a hand held mixer or stand up mixer until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs, one at a time. 

Step 4 – Mix in Sour Cream – Then add in the sour cream, vanilla extract and mix until combined and smooth. 

Step 5 – Add Dry Ingredients – Then hand stir in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until just combined.  Be careful to not over mix. 

Step 6 – Pour Batter – Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with half of the topping mixture. 

Step 7 – Layer Batter – Then pour the remaining batter into the pan. Top with the remaining topping mixture. 

• Step 8 – Bake Coffee Cake – Bake for 30-35 minutes until the top of the cake is golden brown. Toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 
• Step 9 – Serve and Enjoy – Remove the cake from the oven.  Allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes.  Then it’s ready to serve and enjoy.

Recipe Tips

• Prepare Pan – Prepare baking pan by spraying with cooking spray. This helps to easily serve the cake and for easy cleanup. You can also line baking dish with parchment paper.
• Combining Ingredients – For best results, we recommend combining ingredients with a stand mixer or a hand held mixer. Hand mix in the dry ingredients and combine. Do not overmix ingredients.
• Bake Cake – After laying the batter and the crumble topping in the baking dish, bake the cake. You will know when the cake is done when the top is golden brown. Cook for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cover Top – If the top is getting to done. But the cake is still not done, you can cover the top with aluminum foil.
• Coffee Cake Batter – There is no yeast used in this recipe. This recipe is for a cake texture instead of a dough.
• Room Temperature – When making this recipe we recommend using room temperature ingredients.