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Ready to enjoy the fluffiest coffee cake alongside your morning cup of coffee? Try Grandma’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake! This staple recipe makes the perfect breakfast, mid-morning snack, or afternoon treat!

Coffee cake made with sour cream
Have you ever baked a cake with sour cream? Though cake recipes don’t often include the ingredient, there’s no arguing that sour cream enhances any cake recipe its used in! That’s especially true in Grandma’s sour cream coffee cake.
This recipe uses typical baking ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. The addition of sour cream replaces the oil, creating a cake that is extra flavorful, moist, and fluffy!
It doesn’t stop there. After the cake layer comes a layer of cinnamon sugar, followed by a sugary glaze. You’re going to love it!
Ingredients in Grandma’s sour cream coffee cake
This sour cream coffee cake recipe is made in three parts: the cake, the cinnamon sugar, and the glaze. Each part uses flavorful ingredients that all come together to make the most delicious cake.
Cake
- Butter: First up for the coffee cake is 1/2 cup of softened butter. Using softened butter will allow the cake batter to come together much easier. I recommend salted over unsalted butter.
- Sugar: Create the cake’s sweet flavor by including 1 cup of sugar.
- Eggs: Next, use 2 large eggs to help the cake achieve the correct level of fluffiness.
- Sour cream: 1/2 pint of sour cream adds more flavor to the cake! It’s a staple ingredient in this recipe.
- Flour: Next, thicken up the batter with 2 cups of all purpose flour.
- Baking powder: Help the cake bake properly with 1.5 tsp of baking powder.
- Baking soda: Then, follow the baking powder with 1/2 tsp of baking soda.
- Salt: Lastly, finish off the cake batter with 1/4 tsp of salt.
Cinnamon Sugar Layer
- Sugar: The cinnamon sugar layer is made with a base of 3/4 cup of sugar. You can use coconut sugar or granulated sugar, or even light brown sugar! Note that using brown sugar will thicken up the mixture and may make it a bit clumpy.
- Cinnamon: Then, add extra flavor with 2 tsp of cinnamon.
Glaze (optional)
- Powdered sugar: To create the optional glaze, first grab 1 cup of powdered sugar.
- Almond milk: Create a glaze by adding 1-2 tbsp of almond milk to the sugar.
Tools used to make this sour cream coffee cake
Around 8 kitchen tools are required to prepare this coffee cake. Everything is listed below. If a hand mixer is not available, you can use a regular stirring utensil.
- 9×9 baking dish
- Parchment paper
- Large mixing bowl
- Electric mixer
- Spatula
- Small mixing bowl
- Stirring utensil
- Whisk
- Icing knife
For measuring ingredients, you will need the following sized measuring cups: 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp, 1/2 cup, and 1 cup.
How to make coffee cake using sour cream
Ready to dive into this recipe? You can expect the cake to require 15 minutes of prep time, bringing it to around 45 minutes of total time from start to finish. It yields 12 individual slices.
First, preheat oven to 350ยฐF and grease a 9×9 baking dish. I also add a layer of parchment on the bottom.
Then, use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer on low speed to beat together the butter and sugar until they are well combined. Add the eggs and blend until creamy. Then, mix in the sour cream and vanilla.
Next, grab a small bowl and whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry flour mixture to the wet, using a mixer until everything is combined. The batter should be fluffy.
Add half the batter to the baking dish and spread into an even layer. I use an icing knife to make sure it spreads evenly because it will be thick.
In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle half of the mixture evenly over the cake batter.
Repeat the process of adding the remaining batter to the pan, spreading it out with an icing knife, and topping with more cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
While the cake cools, create the glaze by mixing together the ingredients. Once cooled, drizzle the glaze over the cake.
Cut, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
What does sour cream do to a cake?
Sour cream works wonders for making cakes fluffy and moist. It also helps elevate the flavor, making everything taste a bit more powerful.
Can you use light sour cream in cake?
Feel free to use light sour cream or full-fat sour cream in your recipe. If using light sour cream, you may notice a more refined flavor in the cake, but it shouldn’t alter the recipe too much.
What flavors go well with coffee cake?
Cinnamon is always a delicious flavor in coffee cake, as well as berries and other fresh fruits!
What can I add to this cake?
Hoping to add even more flavor to this sour cream coffee cake? One ingredient that goes splendidly with sour cream is fresh fruit. So, consider adding fruit to your coffee cake! You could use blueberries, raspberries, or even chopped strawberries. If you’d rather add a crunch, you can sprinkle chopped pecans or walnuts on top!
Storing leftovers
Wondering about storage? Coffee cake cane be stored at room temperature or in the fridge or freezer to maintain a longer shelf life.
Regardless of where you store it, be sure to place the sour cream cake in an airtight container to keep it fresh and moist. Then, enjoy it at room temperature for 2-3 days, refrigerated for 4-5, or frozen for up to 1 month!
You may store the cake in plastic wrap, but it may dry out faster.
If you liked this recipe, you’ll want to try these!
Want to dig into some more incredible coffee cake recipes? Here are some ideas to try!
- Healthy Lemon Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Coffee Cake Banana Bread
- Orange Poppyseed Cake Loaf
- Healthy Pumpkin Coffee Cake Recipe
Recipe by Erin Morrissey and Photos by The Mindful Hapa
Grandma’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Ready to enjoy the fluffiest coffee cake alongside your morning cup of coffee? Try Grandma’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake! This staple recipe makes the perfect breakfast, mid-morning snack, or afternoon treat!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 pint sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Cinnamon Sugar layer:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
Optional glaze:
- 1 cupย powdered sugar
- 1โ2ย tbsp almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease 9×9 baking dish. I also add a layer of parchment on the bottom.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until well combined. Add in eggs and blend until creamy. Then mix in sour cream and vanilla.
- In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet using mixer until all combined. Batter should be fluffy.
- Add half the batter to baking dish and spread evenly into bottom. I use an icing knife to make sure it spreads evenly because it will be thick.
- In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle half of the mixture evenly over the cake batter.
- Repeat process with adding remaining cake batter to dish, spreading out with icing knife, and topping with more cinnamon sugar.
- Bake for 28-32 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- While cake cools, make glaze if you are choosing to add. Once cool, drizzle all over cake.
- Cut and serve! Enjoy!
There may be affiliate links in this post!ย By purchasing a product I recommend, I may receive a small compensation. However, I only recommend products I absolutely love and use myself. Thank you for supporting Erin Lives Whole, it helps keep this blog afloat ๐
Kayla says
I made this coffee cake for a New Year’s brunch with friends and everyone loved it!! So nostalgic and delicious!!
Erin says
Hi Kayla, so happy it was a hit! ๐
Bianca says
YUM. I was caught off guard by how good this is. Itโs so soft and fluffy. And so easy to make- all ingredients I usually have on hand.
Erin says
Hi Bianca, so happy you loved it!! ๐
Stacey says
This was a fan favorite in my house! Gone in 24 hours. Deff recommend
Erin says
Hi Stacey, so happy it was such a big hit!! ๐
Derek says
I’ve made this twice and both times I’ve had to go well beyond the recommended cook time (15 minutes roughly) and even then the center isn’t quite cooked through. Am I doing something wrong? My oven usually runs hot and cooks things right at or minutes before the recommend time.
Other than that, it’s a great recipe, very tasty.
Jolene says
This was absolutely amazing, super easy to make and so delicious! We warmed it up with some whipped butter on top. Drooling!! Definitely making on repeat. Thank you, for sharing the recipe!
Can this be frozen?
Erin says
Hi Jolene, so happy you loved it and great idea! Yes, be sure to place the sour cream cake in an airtight container to keep it fresh and moist for up to a month in the freezer!
Laura says
This coffee cake is amazing! We all loved it, my kids devoured it, it was gone in one day. My family is begging me to make it again asap! Thank you Erin for another delicious recipe. I didnโt quite use the full 3/4 cup cinnamon sugar for the middle and topping and it was perfection ๐
Erin says
Hi Laura, so happy you all loved it! Thanks for sharing!!
Kristen says
Erin, this recipe is delicious! You’ve been sharing photos of it for weeks, so once you posted the recipe I knew we had to try it and it did not disappoint! I used plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, bc it’s what we had on hand and OMG this cake is so pillowy soft and full of cinnamony goodness ๐ TRY IT!
Erin says
Hi Kristen, so happy you loved it so much and made it your own! ๐
Eliza G says
SO GOOD
Erin says
Hi Eliza, so happy you loved it!