Have you ever had an an American style coffee cake? Not a coffee flavoured cake which were so popular in the U.K. in the 80s but a spiced cake made to be eaten with coffee?
A few years back I worked on a project in the US Virgin Isles (beautiful Caribbean waters, white sand beaches and exotic wildlife), and we ate an American style diet and as we were very busy, convenience was the key. I have to say the catering, which we took turns to help with, was not always very inspiring, however, crumbly topped spiced coffee cake was one flavour which stayed with me. If I remember correctly, it was a boxed cake mix we used, but certainly not a style of cake i was familiar with as a Brit.
I’ve tried to recreate my memory with little success over the years, but now I think I’ve cracked it. The sponge is moist and spiced and the topping is sweet, crunchy and crumbly – and indeed does go rather well with a coffee. Handily enough it also makes a great pudding when served with custard. Double bonus to have a recipe with multiple uses up your sleeve.

Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 18cm springform deep cake tin
Ingredients
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 25 g custard powder or corn flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 150 ml dairy-free yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 ml oat milk
- 80 g dairy-free margarine
- 175 g caster sugar
- For the filling:
- 35 g soft brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- For the streusel topping:
- 25 g plain flour
- 15 g sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 15 g dairy-free margarine
Instructions
- Firstly make the filling: Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling and set aside.
- Next, make the streusel topping: In a bowl stir together the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Rub in the margarine with your fingertips to make a crumble like consistency. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade. Grease and line a spring-form cake tin
- Sift together the flour, custard powder or corn flour and bicarbonate and set aside
- In another bowl, mix together the yogurt, oat milk and vanilla and set aside
- Cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy
- Alternately add the flour and yogurt mix (about 1/3rd of the mix each time) and stir well between each addition.
- Pour 1/3rd of the mix into the cake tin and level off.
- Sprinkle over 1/2 the cinnamon/sugar mix on top, then repeat with two more layers of batter and one of cinnamon sugar.
- Scatter over the streusel mixture and then bake for 35-40 minutes, until a knife cones out clean
- Cool briefly in the tin before unmoulding and cooling on a wire rack.
Notes
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3 Responses
Yum Lucy that looks so good – the topping makes me want to dive right in!
Can’t wait to try this! (American expat in UK, I love coffee cake:-) For the ‘margerine’ do you mean like Vitalite or could you use one of the Flora dairy free butters? Thank you.
Yes absolutely, when I say margarine I’d recommend the slightly softer one in a tub, and when I say butter, the harder ones in a wrapper. But at the end of the day they are interchangeable. I hope you enjoy the cake x