Coffee Cake (Pound Cake Recipe)
This homemade Coffee Cake Pound Cake is moist and buttery, with swirls of brown sugar, cinnamon, toasted pecans, and a slight crunch from the streusel topping.
The tender cake is slightly more dense than other coffee cakes, as it is based on our popular Buttermilk Pound Cake recipe.
It has a fine crumb, and fantastic flavor and texture. You can never go wrong with the combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans!
Table of Contents
Why we Love It
- Simple and Delicious
- Perfect birthday cake recipe, holiday cake, or cake "just because"
- We love the ease of Bundt Cakes & Pound Cakes
- Tender crumb, rich flavor.
- The swirl and topping takes this pound cake to another level- SO good!
How to Make the Coffee Cake
You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!
As usual for our pound cakes, start by greasing and flouring a tube pan or bundt pan. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- First, prepare the streusel crumble topping for later. Melt the butter and allow it to cool. Then drizzle it over the mixture of brown sugar, flour, salt, pecans, and cinnamon. Mix with a fork until the flour is absorbed and the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.
- Next, combine the ingredients for the brown sugar swirl mixture and set aside.
Preparing the Cake Batter
- The cake is based on our buttermilk pound cake recipe. It is very easy to make and so delicious! The difference comes with the swirl of deliciousness in the center.
- First, mix the softened butter until smooth and add the white sugar, mixing at medium speed for 4-5 minutes until fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until combined.
- Alternately add the Dry mixture (flour, baking powder, and salt) and Wet Mixture (buttermilk + vanilla extract). Start and end with the dry mixture. (We do three additions of the flour mixture and two of the buttermilk mixture).
Layering the Batter
Scoop about half of the pound cake batter into the prepared bundt cake pan. (Approximately 4-4.5 cups).
Sprinkle with the Swirl Mixture (of brown sugar, cinnamon, and finely chopped pecans). Then, add the remaining batter on top. Lightly smooth the top layer of batter with the back of a spoon, or tap the pan on the countertop to level the batter.
Sprinkle the second layer of cake batter with the crumble/streusel topping. Time to bake!
Bake the coffee cake for about 60-70 minutes or until an inserted wooden skewer comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached.
Allow to cool on a wire rack for ten minutes before turning out. Enjoy!
More Pound Cake Recipes
We've made so many pound cake recipes over the years! Some of our most popular are our Lemon Pound Cake, Five Flavor Pound Cake, Classic Pound Cake, and Marble Pound Cake.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope that you will keep this moist coffee cake pound cake in mind for your next special occasion. If you give it a try, let us know what you think!
Don't miss our full collection of favorite cake recipes and cake decorating tutorials!
Coffee Cake Pound Cake
Ingredients
For the Streusel Topping
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (This is half a stick of butter)
- ½ cup Flour (I used cake flour since that is what we use in the cake batter as well.)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Swirl
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup finely chopped pecans
For the Cake Batter
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g) (This is 1 ½ cups)
- 2¾ cups sugar (550g)
- 5 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes to speed up the process).
- 3½ cups cake flour (399g) We used Swan's Down.
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1¼ cup buttermilk (294g)*see substitution in Notes if needed
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (12g)
Instructions
- Grease and flour a tube pan. (Ours has a 12 cup baking capacity).
- Preheat the oven to 325℉
For the Streusel Topping
- Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes until no longer warm to the touch. If in a hurry, refrigerate for a few minutes.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the topping (brown sugar, flour, pecans, salt, cinnamon). Drizzle the cooled butter on top of it and using a fork, combine the ingredients until flour is absorbed and the mixture is crumbly. Set aside. *See Notes for tips.
For the Swirl
- Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and finely chopped pecans in a small bowl. Set aside for later.
For the Cake
- Dry Ingredients-- In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
- Wet Ingredients- Add the vanilla extract to the 1¼ cup of buttermilk. Set Aside for later.
- Using an electric mixer (paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), mix the butter in your mixing bowl on medium speed until smooth. Next, gradually add the white sugar and mix until light and fluffy for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time to the butter & sugar mixture, blending after each until the yolk is incorporated.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the butter/sugar/egg mixture in the mixing bowl. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I do three additions of dry, alternating with two additions of wet. Mix just until combined.
Layering the Batter
- Scoop half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the "swirl mixture" over the batter (brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans), and then spoon the remaining batter on top of it. Lightly smooth with the back of a spoon or tap the pan on the counter to level the batter.
- Next, sprinkle the streusel topping crumbles over the top layer of batter.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Baking times may vary depending on the type of pan, oven, etc.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.
- The cake can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container, under a cake dome, or in a bakery box. This cake freezes nicely also. (See notes for details).
Can this be made in 9x5 loaf pans instead? If so how long would the baking time be? Thank you