Home » Recipes & Tutorials » Cakes and Cupcakes » Pound Cakes and Bundt Cakes

Coffee Cake (Pound Cake Recipe)

Last Updated On: September 06, 2025 | Published: September 06, 2025 by Melissa Diamond | 11 Comments
Jump To Recipe Jump to Video
Jump To Recipe Jump To Video

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.

Coffee Cake pound cake, sliced, on a pedestal.

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!

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.
Butter and Sugar mixture in the bowl.
  • 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).
Buttermilk pound cake batter in a mixing bowl.

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.

Layering the batter for the Coffee Cake Pound Cake.

Sprinkle the second layer of cake batter with the crumble/streusel topping. Time to bake!

The filled bundt cake pan, ready for baking.

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!

Coffee Cake Pound Cake on a cake pedestal.

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, sliced, on a pedestal.

Coffee Cake Pound Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This buttery Coffee Cake Pound Cake has fantastic flavor, with swirls of cinnamon, brown sugar, pecans, and a streusel topping.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
RATE THIS RECIPE
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

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).

Notes

Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to a measuring cup. To that, add milk to the 1 ¼ cup mark. Stir and allow to sit for a minute or two to thicken.
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 ½ cups of flour so you will measure out 3 ½ cups of all purpose flour, remove 7 Tablespoons and replace with 7 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.
Streusel Topping 
After combining the dry ingredients and adding the cooled, melted butter, mix with a fork until crumbly. You want to avoid a paste-like consistency that happens from over-mixing or from the butter being too warm and melting the sugar. If this begins to happen, just refrigerate a few minutes to firm the butter up a bit and use your fork to break into crumbles.
 
Bundt Pan: Our bundt pan has a baking capacity of 12 cups and measures about 10 inches. If you are working with a smaller pan, it will take longer to bake. Be careful not to overfill. (General rule of thumb: don't fill pan past ⅔ full)
Freezing: This cake can be frozen. If working in advance, we like to tightly wrap our freshly baked cake in a layer of plastic wrap and foil while the cake is still a bit warm and pop in the freezer. The cake can be frozen for up to three months.
Thawing: Bundt cakes take longer to thaw than cake layers. It is best to move the frozen, wrapped cake to the refrigerator the night before, and then move to the kitchen counter the next morning (still wrapped) to continue thawing for a few hours. If you'd like, you can remove the foil after a condensation has formed.
*This cake recipe makes approximately 8-8.5 cups of batter
5 from 2 votes

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




The maximum upload file size: 8 MB. You can upload: image. Drop files here

11 Comments

    1. Hi Donna, I'm sure that this recipe would be great for loaves as well. I would just look up the bake time for the size pan that you have.

      Reply

      1. Oh I didn't know (I'm Italian!!).Thank you. I will try to make this one anyway to enjoy with "caffelatte"

    2. Coffee cake is the name given as it goes wonderfully with a cup of coffee. There may be a coffee recipe out there somewhere for a coffee flavored coffee cake but I’m unaware.

      Reply