When it comes to cakes that are acceptable to eat at breakfast, you simply can’t beat this Vegan Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake. It’s sweet without being cloying, deliciously spiced, and perfect paired with a cup of coffee or your afternoon tea.
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Made With Pantry Staples - This dairy-free and eggless coffee cake is made with just 12 simple ingredients, most of which are likely in your kitchen already.
- Perfect For Making Ahead - My vegan crumb cake will last for up to a week in the fridge or a month in the freezer. That way, you can always have a tasty treat on hand for unexpected visitors.
- Filled With Sugar, Spice, & Everything Nice - This cinnamon streusel cake is simply spectacular - better than Starbucks in my biased opinion!
Love simple, fuss-free vegan cake recipes? Try my plant-based recipes for Starbucks copycat lemon loaf cake, glazed gingerbread loaf cake, or orange cake next!
🧾 Ingredients Needed
As promised, you only need a few easy-to-find ingredients to make this American coffee cake. Here’s what to grab:
Ingredient Notes
- Light & Dark Brown Sugars - The only difference between light and dark brown sugar is how much molasses is present. If you have to choose just one, I suggest reaching for light muscovado. But any soft light brown sugar will work. You can also go for coconut sugar if you want a slightly less refined option.
- Ground Cinnamon - I like my vegan streusel topping to be amply spiced. If it’s too much for you, feel free to cut back to just 1 tablespoon if you prefer.
- Vegan Butter - Make sure you’re grabbing block-style butter rather than the spreadable kind that comes in a tub. You’ll want it to be very cold to make the streusel, but room temperature to make the cake batter.
- Soy Milk & Apple Cider Vinegar - While I typically endorse pretty much any variety of plant-based milk, soy is best for making vegan buttermilk.
- Granulated Sugar - If you live in the US, make sure to reach for organic cane sugar to ensure it’s vegan-friendly.
- Vegan Greek-Style Yogurt - Vegan sour cream will also work beautifully!
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda - You’ll need both kinds of raising agents to make sure your dairy-free coffee cake comes out perfectly. If you need to check if yours are still good, try these simple tests.
🥣 How To Make Vegan Coffee Cake
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Since we're using the cinnamon sugar crumb topping as both the topping and the filling, this easy snack cake comes together in just a few simple steps:
Step 1: Whisk together light and dark brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Grate the cold butter into the bowl or dice it into small cubes. Rub it into the dry ingredients until it resembles a crumb consistency.
Step 2: Cream the room-temp butter and granulated sugar, then whisk in the yogurt and vanilla extract. Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Step 3: Add the buttermilk and dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 2 parts each. Carefully fold the ingredients together after each increment. Stop folding once there are no visible pockets of flour.
Step 4: Add around ⅓ of the coffee cake batter to a prepared cake pan. Smooth out the top of it with a spatula or spoon.
Step 5: Sprinkle half of the cinnamon crumb mixture on top in an even layer.
Step 6: Carefully spread the remaining batter on top, smoothing it out so that it reaches all the edges.
Step 7: Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon crumb mixture on top and bake until golden brown.
Step 8: Drizzle the vanilla sugar glaze over the cake once completely cooled.
📝 Recipe Tips
Butter Perfection. Creamed butter works better than melted butter to create a thick batter perfect for layering. You want to let it soften to a mild room temperature, so that it will easily indent with gentle pressure from your thumb, but not so soft that it is greasy and leaves large amounts on the wax paper wrapper.
Once you've made the crumb topping, I recommend setting it aside in the fridge if your kitchen is on the warmer side.
Don’t Overmix. While you want to make sure your batter is well-incorporated and streak-free, you also don’t want to overdo it. Overmixing causes more gluten strands to form, which can result in a tough crumb.
Gently Squeeze the crumble mixture together to create larger bits of streusel.
Consider using pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice to amp up the spice factor without any fuss!
💬 FAQs
Traditional coffee cake is typically made with eggs, butter, and sour cream, meaning it is not suitable for vegans. This egg-free and dairy-free coffee cake recipe is totally vegan, though!
Unlike for example in Ireland, where coffee cake often contains coffee, in many other parts of the world, coffee cake isn't actually coffee-flavored. It's called "coffee cake" because it's a delightful companion for your coffee. The name originated from the idea that this scrumptious cake, often adorned with streusel toppings or sweet swirls, pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee. So while it doesn't contain coffee in the recipe, it's meant to enhance your coffee-drinking experience with a bit of sweet indulgence on the side. Enjoy the cozy combo! ☕️🍰
The difference between tea cake and coffee cake lies in their intended pairing. Tea cakes are usually lighter, more delicate treats meant to accompany a cup of tea. Whereas coffee cakes are heartier and designed to go with coffee. As for crumb cake vs. coffee cake, crumb cake is a type of coffee cake that's characterized by its generous crumbly topping. Adding an extra layer of texture and flavor to the classic coffee cake base.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also keep it in the fridge for up to a week. I recommend taking it out of the fridge 1-2 hours before serving to help it soften back up.
To freeze this cake, place it in an airtight container for up to a month and defrost it a couple of hours before serving.
🍂 More Fall Desserts
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Description
Equipment
Ingredients
Cinnamon Crumb
- 60 g (¼ cup) light brown sugar, I use light muscovado
- 60 g (¼ cup) dark brown sugar, I use dark muscovado, *see note
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, reduce to 1 tbsp if preferred
- 100 g (¾ cup + 2 tsp) all-purpose flour
- 80 g (2.82 oz) vegan butter (block-style), cold
Batter
- 118 ml (½ cup) soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 115 g (4 oz) vegan butter (block-style), room temperature
- 160 g (⅔ cup) vegan Greek-style yogurt , or vegan sour cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 240 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour, sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Glaze
- 90 g (¾ cup) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons soy milk
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Lightly grease an 8" cake pan with some oil or vegan butter and 2 strips of parchment paper. Leave some overhang in the parchment so that you can easily lift the cake out later. To make the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a jug, stir, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Make the cinnamon crumb: Add the light and dark brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Grate the cold butter into the bowl (or dice it into small cubes) and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a crumb consistency. Set aside (in the fridge if your kitchen is warm).
- Mix the wet ingredients: Add the room-temperature butter and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and cream the ingredients together for 2-3 minutes using an electric whisk or stand mixer. Whisk in the yogurt and vanilla extract. Keep the vegan buttermilk in a separate jug for now.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Make the batter: Alternate between adding the buttermilk and dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients in 2 increments each - carefully folding them into the wet ingredients each time using a spatula. Stop folding once there are no visible pockets of flour - don't be tempted to overmix! The batter will be quite thick.
- Assemble: Add around ⅓ of the batter to the prepared cake pan and smooth out the top of it with a spatula or spoon. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon crumb mixture on top in an even layer.Carefully add the remaining batter on top, smoothing it out so that it reaches all the edges. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon crumb mixture on top.
- Bake: Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top of the cake is golden brown. Check the cake is done by piercing it with a toothpick or a knife, the knife should come out clean.
- Cool the cake: Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes and then very carefully lift it out using the parchment sling onto a cooling rack to cool further.
- Make the glaze: Meanwhile, add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and soy milk to a bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cake once completely cooled.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. I recommend taking it out of the fridge 1-2 hours before serving to help it soften back up.You can also freeze this cake in an airtight container and defrost it a couple of hours before serving.
Nutrition
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