Gingerbread Coffee Cake

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This Gingerbread Coffee Cake features warm spices, sour cream for moisture, and a brown sugar streusel layer baked right inside. Perfect for holiday brunch or an everyday coffee cake recipe.

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Total Time1 5

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Author: Melissa Griffiths

Ingredients

For the Streusel Layer and Topping

⅔ cup all-purpose flour
⅔ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons melted butter

For the Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves optional, but adds that classic gingerbread depth
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter melted
1/4 cup molasses light or fancy, see notes
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch square baking dish well. Set aside.

For the streusel

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until evenly combined and crumbly. Set aside.

For the cake batter

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the eggs, sour cream, melted butter, molasses, milk, and vanilla.
Stir until just combined — the batter should be thick but smooth. Avoid overmixing.
Spread a little more than half of the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Sprinkle 1 cup of the streusel evenly over this first layer.
Gently spread the remaining batter over the streusel layer.
Top with the remaining streusel mixture.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to rest for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Sugar & Spice:

If you have all-spice on hand and like it you can also add 1/8 of a teaspoon of all spice with the other spices.
You can use light or dark brown sugar for this recipe. I tried it both ways and didn't see a big different in the flavor or color because we were already adding molasses. Just use what you have on hand.

My Favorite Topping: You can make a simple cinnamon drizzle for this by mixing 1 cup of powdered sugar with a ½ teaspoon of vanilla and just enough milk or cream to make a thin glaze (about 1 tablespoon). Mix it together well and drizzle over the top of the coffee cake if you'd like. It's a fun and pretty addition to the cake but you don't have to do it.

Perfect Match: Love gingerbread spice as much as I do? Make some of this gingerbread syrup too and serve it in your morning coffee or tea along with this coffee cake! It makes for an absolutely delicious morning.

Baking Pan Tips:

Note that most square glass baking dishes are 8x8 inches and not 9x9 so if you are using that you'll need to increase the baking time to accommodate the thicker cake.
You can line your baking dish with parchment paper before adding the batter and then once the coffee cake has cooled a bit, you can remove it from the pan with the parchment paper to serve it out of the dish. I like to do this if I'm serving this at a party or with friends.

*For the molasses you'll want to use light, fancy, or table molasses. Using black strap molasses will make the cake bitter.

Nutrition

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