This super moist Cinnamon Roll Swirl Coffee Cake is worth making from scratch! Rich, moist coffee cake is swirled with a cinnamon roll filling and topped off with a simple glaze. It is to die for!
The first time we made a cinnamon swirl coffee cake was years ago from a fellow family member’s blog (that’s right, blogging runs in the family). The recipe was called Honey Bun Cake. It was absolutely delicious, and we’ve made it several times since. Her recipe uses a cake mix but we wanted a “from scratch” version, since that’s more The Stay At Home Chef style. We know how easy it is to reach for the cake mix, but trust us, it is worth the extra effort to make coffee cake from scratch.
We’ve all experienced dry, crumbly, sub-par coffee cake. It is usually store-bought and always served at a women’s luncheon of some sort. We make it a rule to avoid the coffee cake at such events because we have simply become so spoiled with this homemade coffee cake. It is super moist, and thick, and decadent….everything a coffee cake should be. The batter is quite thick, much thicker than a cake mix so don’t be surprised by that. That’s exactly how it is supposed to be.
Swirl Options for Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake:
You have a couple of different options for the cinnamon swirl. You can simple swirl it in up top like we’ve done here, or you can layer it by pouring half the batter into the pan, doing a swirl layer, then the remaining half of the batter and another swirl layer. Feel free to do whichever works best for you.
Where is the coffee? Why is it called coffee cake?
Now, before anyone gets mad about calling it a coffee cake, let’s get one thing straight: coffee cake doesn’t have any coffee in it and it isn’t supposed to! It’s called coffee cake because it is meant to be served up with coffee. The sweetness of the cake is a delightful balance to the bitterness of coffee.
Storage Instructions:
This cake stays good for about 3 days before it starts to dry out. Make sure you cover it after it has been sliced into, otherwise it will dry out immediately. Store at room temperature.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious pastry dessert recipes:
- Homemade Glazed Donuts
- Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins
- The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Ever
Watch the video below where we will walk you through every step of the recipe with a video demonstration.
I used cream cheese because i didn’t have sour cream or greek yogurt, the batter is pretty thick but i’m excited to see how it turns out.. will it be thick and buttery or crumbly and dry?! Either way it’ll be sugary and delicious!
oooo, I am not sure how that will turn out at all. Cream cheese is very different than sour cream and greek yogurt so I’m not sure what to expect here. Be sure to come back and let us know.
It is very rare I can find a desert that both my kids enjoy…
This sucker was gone in 2 days!
And they both begged for me to make it monthly. 5 STARS! This site is now bookmarked for future yumminess.
Is there any substitute of sour cream? I can’t get sour cream here.
Depends on where you are! There’s usually something similar. Google is your best friend here.
Plain Greek Yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream
I’m diabetic, but want to try this badly! Can I use sugar substitute? (Like Splenda for baking)
It might be worth experimenting with, but this has such a large amount of sugar in it that it could cause serious differences in the texture of the cake to substitute with splenda.
I have swapped the sugar for Stevia and had excellent results. My mother used Equal in place of the sugar and hers came out perfect too! Hope this helps!
So how much stevia or equal to replace the three cups of sugar did these ladies use?
Just out of curiosity, have you ever made muffins out of this instead of a cake? I’m still in search of the perfect cinnamon struesel muffin and this is the absolute best cinnamon coffee cake I have ever tasted and thought it would make fabulous muffins. Let me know what you think!
I haven’t, but in theory they would sort of work. You wouldn’t get that beautiful rounded top though without some adjustments and experimentation. But honestly, I wouldn’t complain about not having a rounded top if someone gave me one of these in muffin form. They are just too good!
I think I will give it a whirl and will report back with my results. Fingers crossed it works–this cake is way too good to mess up and have to toss it!
The cinnamon filling sank to the bottom and stuck. In spite of this, the cake was delicious. Any ideas as to what I could have done wrong?
hmmm, perhaps you added too much liquid to the batter? The bottom layer of batter should be thick enough that the cinnamon roll drizzle shouldn’t sink. Perhaps just add a little more batter on the bottom next time.
I was watching you live cinnamon roll video and you are say 1/2c melted butter for the filling you place on top, but you pouring in a cup or more. which is it?
Thank you,
Paula
I was making two cakes and thought nobody would notice. Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone! 😉
This has SIX cups of sugar in it!!! That’s outrageous… and not in a good way.
The sugar police have caught me again! I believe in a life of moderation. Nothing wrong with a piece of sweet cake now and then.
Agreed…?
can this be made in a bundt pan?
In theory it can. It would require a longer baking time though.
It’s called Crumb Cake at our house!