Coffee cake muffins
Coffee cake is an American sour cream butter cake usually enjoyed with a morning cup of coffee, even though there is no coffee in it at all. This muffin version has a soft, tender crumb, a sweet cinnamon-sugar ribbon through the middle and a thick blanket of streusel (crisp baked butter-sugar crumbs) on top. You'll love the crunch of the crumbs as you bite into the moist cake underneath.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 24 min
- Rising or chilling
- 15 min
- Total time
- 1 hr 4 min
- Method
- Oven-baked
Ingredients
Cinnamon streusel
Muffin batter
Icing drizzle (optional)
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line twelve muffin cups with paper liners. The streusel is heavy, so a moderate heat lets the muffins rise gradually and hold up the crumbs on top. You're ready when the oven is fully hot and all the cups are lined.
Step 2
Mix 70 g all-purpose flour, 70 g brown sugar, 3 g ground cinnamon and a pinch salt, then drizzle in 55 g melted unsalted butter and pinch it together with your fingertips into crumbs of different sizes. Put the bowl of crumbs in the fridge for about ten minutes while you make the batter. Chilling helps the crumbs keep their clumps and bake up crisp. The streusel is ready when it clumps together when squeezed and no dry flour remains.
Step 3
Whisk 240 g all-purpose flour, 6 g baking powder, 2 g baking soda and a pinch salt together in a separate bowl. Blending the leaveners into the flour first helps the muffins rise evenly with a fine crumb. The mixture is ready when it is light and there are no lumps of leavening left.
Step 4
Stir 85 g melted unsalted butter with 130 g granulated sugar until combined, then add 100 g eggs, 180 g sour cream, 60 g whole milk and 5 g vanilla extract and keep stirring. Sour cream brings moisture and a gentle signature tang, making the crumb soft as cotton. The mixture is ready when it is smooth, thick like yogurt and no longer gritty with sugar.
Step 5
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet bowl and fold with a spatula until no dry flour remains; the batter will be quite thick. Only a thick batter can hold the streusel layer in the middle without it sinking to the bottom. The batter is ready when it is thick, slightly glossy and drops from the spatula in heavy dollops.
Step 6
Spoon about half the batter into the twelve cups, sprinkle a thin layer of streusel over it, then cover with the remaining batter and divide the rest of the streusel over the tops, pressing lightly so the crumbs stick. The middle layer creates a cinnamon-sugar swirl when you cut a muffin, while the top layer forms a crunchy crust. You're done when each cup has three clear layers and the tops are fully covered in brown crumbs.
Step 7
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the streusel is golden brown and the muffins have risen high. Baking long enough makes the crumbs truly crisp and cooks the centers through. The muffins are done when a skewer inserted into the cake part comes out clean, perhaps with just a little melted cinnamon sugar.
Step 8
Let the muffins cool in the pan for about fifteen minutes, then lift them out; if you like, stir 50 g powdered sugar with 10 g whole milk into a thick glaze and drizzle it over the tops in thin lines. Waiting for the muffins to cool a little keeps the icing from melting away. The muffins are finished when the white lines of icing have set and the streusel is still crunchy.
Equipment
- Oven
- Muffin tin
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Mixing bowl
- Kitchen scale
- Wire cooling rack
Tips
- You can swap the sour cream for the same weight of Greek yogurt and the muffins will still be soft and moist.
- Adding a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts to the streusel makes the crumbs nuttier and more fragrant.
- The streusel can be made ahead and kept in the freezer for up to a month; sprinkle it straight onto the batter without thawing.
Storage
The muffins keep for three days at room temperature in an airtight container, though the streusel will gradually soften. Warm them at 170 degrees Celsius for about five minutes to crisp the crumbs up again.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The streusel melted into a hard sheet of sugar.
- The butter in the streusel was too hot, or the crumbs weren't chilled. Let the crumbs cool completely in the fridge and pinch them into distinct clumps before sprinkling.
- The cinnamon-sugar layer sank to the bottom.
- The batter was too thin to hold up the crumbs. Double-check the amount of milk and sprinkle only a thin layer of streusel in the middle.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
