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Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe
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A super easy Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake recipe using a box cake mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, and graham cracker crumbs! SO GOOD!
Coffee Cake Recipe
I found this Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe in a magazine months ago and it was love at first sight. Not only did it look amazing, but it seemed to be one of those recipes that everyone and their mom would rave about at a potluck. This is my new go-to dessert recipe for all future life events.
Main Ingredients Needed
This Coffee Cake Recipe is beyond easy and can be whipped up in about 20 minutes or less. Then let it bake for about 40 minutes. By then you’ll have a house that smells delicious and a tasty treat to try. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
- Graham Crackers – this is to make the streusel. If you are an international reader, digestive biscuits will work too!
- Brown Sugar – this is to sweeten the streusel. Once it starts baking the sugar starts to caramelize a bit and is SO yummy.
- Walnuts – or pecans! Make sure to chop them so you have small crunchy bites instead of big ones. Also, if you can’t have nuts, just leave this bit out and replace with more graham crackers.
- Ground Cinnamon – to flavor the streusel!
- Butter – this is melted and is used to hold the streusel together.
- Yellow Cake Mix – you’re going to need a good yellow cake mix and everything needed to make the batter.
- Confectioners Sugar – to sweeten the glaze.
- Milk – this is used to loosen the glaze so it’s pourable.
Love cinnamon-infused desserts? Try these out: The Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, Cinnamon Swirl Donut Bread, Instant Pancake Mix & Cinnamon Roll Syrup, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Encrusted French Toast.
How to Make Coffee Cake
So the coffee cake is based on a yellow cake mix (easy!) and creates a streusel out of graham cracker crumbs, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. You layer the two together and bake. It bakes perfectly because you used a cake mix and when you cut into it, it’s the epitome of coffee cake perfection. Here’s how to make it:
- In a small bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon. Stir in butter; set aside.
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions.
- Pour half of the batter into a greased 13×9-in. baking pan. Sprinkle with half of the graham cracker mixture. Carefully spoon the remaining batter on top. Sprinkle with the remaining graham cracker mixture.
- Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- For the glaze-combine confectioners’ sugar and milk; drizzle over cake.
Serve with coffee, milk, hot chocolate or whatever else you like with your coffee cake!
Tips and Tricks
Lots of streusel – You might question yourself as you’re layering it between the cake batter because it’s a lot of streusel, but you put it in the oven, take a big gulp and it will come out perfectly!
Glass Pan – I love using a glass 9×13 pan because it’s less likely to develop crusty edges like it would in a nonstick baking pan. Just grease it well, and you will be good to go!
Mixing – No need to use an electric hand mixer or even a stand mixer for this coffee cake recipe (though you totally could….I hate the dishes) I just used a bowl, a whisk and some elbow grease for my cake mix.
The Glaze is Optional – but I think it makes it look super pretty! It’s not optional at MY house. Ha!
More Coffee Cake to Try!
- Apple Coffee Cake Recipe
- Lemon Buttermilk Crumb Cake
- Lemon Cranberry Coffee Cake
- Cinnamon Roll Cake Recipe
This coffee cake is basically divine, so try it out and let me know how you like it in the comments! Printable recipe card below, enjoy friends 🙂
Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe
A super easy Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake recipe using a box cake mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, and graham cracker crumbs! SO GOOD!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup butter melted
- 1 package yellow cake mix regular size
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon. Stir in butter; set aside.
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions.
- Pour half of the batter into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Sprinkle with half of the graham cracker mixture. Carefully spoon the remaining batter on top. Sprinkle with the remaining graham cracker mixture.
- Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- For the glaze-combine confectioners' sugar and milk; drizzle over coffee cake.
Notes
For my international readers, if you don't have graham crackers for the streusel, digestive biscuits work just as well. Basically, just try to find a sweet simple cracker.
Nutrition
Calories: 310kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 2gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 358mgPotassium: 69mgFiber: 1gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 235IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 92mgIron: 1.2mg
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I was skepticle about making this because I`ve made these cakes before only to dump them in the garbage! But this cake was SOOOO YUMMY!! It was moist & fluffy! I baked it & let it sit over night. The topping was HARD like all the other cakes I`ve made so I thought another cake to throw in the garbage. I`m sooo glad I decided to try it again the next morning!! The topping was SOOO soft & moist! I put it in the frig in a air tight cake pan to keep it fresh & it lasted about 3 weeks!! This is the BEST cake ever & I`m getting ready to make it again! This will be my FAVORITE coffee cake recipe!! I HIGHLY recommend this recipe!!!
Want to make this for an upcoming party. If I used a bundt pan instead of the glass pan, would that work? I made it about 2 months ago in the 13 x 9, it came out great. Just trying to change it up a bit, so thought I would use my aluminum bundt pan. Have you used this recipe in a bundt pan??? Please let me know. Thanks!
It is simple and quick to make any time of the day. Especially when guests come over and after a wonderful meal. Or take one to your family members who are sick or sad and at the office party. Or to someone you love very much.
This recipe was amazing!!! My family loved it!!!!!! It was so easy to put together! Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
I made this coffee cake tonight and I was very disappointed as well as my son and daughter in law. I’m not sure what I could have done wrong , but it was TASTELESS. I’ve made coffee cake many times with a box cake mix and without, and we always loved it and finished it within two days. I went over everything twice thi king maybe I forgot something. The answer still the same. it’s the recipe. Sorry to say, it’s not for me.
Can this be frozen? If so, should I glaze it before freezing?
I am not a baker nor a great cook but even I was able to make this recipe. I decided to use cupcake liners as it is already the portion that we eat. 19 min works for us.
I am not a baker nor a great cook but even I was able to make this recipe. I decided to use cupcake liners as it is already the portion that we eat. 19 min works for us.
I made this but didn’t have Graham cracker crumbs so I used crushed vanilla wafers instead. It was soooo good.
Do you think I can add blueberries to this?
Made soooo much streusel topping. I didn’t even add all of it to the cake and it was still a lot. Next time will make less or put more in the cake batter/swirl it into the batter in between the layers so it melts into the batter instead of making a crunchy top layer like this did. Kids said it was good otherwise. Thank you!
Loved the cinnamon coffee cake!
Easy to make!
This coffee cake was delicious! I will definitely be making it again!! I followed the directions to the letter, but all the streusel sort of “sank” to the bottom, it was not layered like the recipe picture looks like. The only change I made to the recipe was I used margarine instead of butter because of the cholesterol. Could this have been the problem? Please advise.
I made it according to directions. Tastes good, but the two layers of streusel went to bottom of pan. Any ideas?
Very tasty and easy. I used a butter recipe yellow cake mix and a mixture of dark and light brown sugar. Thanks for the recipe!
Made it today using chocolate animal cookies. Oh yeah! Amazing!!
Made this with a few tweaks! A little extra oil, milk instead of water, a teaspoon of vanilla in the batter. I made the glaze with melted butter, vanilla, half and half and powdered sugar. My boys said it was the best coffee cake they’d ever had!
Awesome.. would not change a thing!
OMG! Thank you for this easy to make and absolutely delicious cake. My 7 yr old grand daughter and I love to bake together… this is one of our favorites! It doesn’t last long in our home. I wouldn’t change anything to this recipe because it’s perfect!
Yes, please. This is so good and easy. Ive made this without nuts and every single person has raved about it.
Thank you for this recipe!
Love it,so easy to make
Absolutely delicious! I made this for a card game . It was a big hit!
I served it with a hot beverage bar.
I’ve revisited this recipe because I was going to make a King “Cake” for Mardi Gras but not really a fan!
I’m thinking of making this and coloring drizzle, purple , Green, and gold….
The Filling is Delicious
Cake is so easy to make and smells fantastic in oven
Came out perfect
I made it in a Bundt pan and added the streusel to bottom of pan first them batter then filling then top with remaining batter
Great recipe. Easy and uses simple and widely available pantry ingredients. Very flavorful and presents nicely on brunch table. Thanks.
Please tell me this could be made as an overnight coffee cake! Expecting overnight snowstorm. Would be wonderful to wake up to a cake ready for the oven, and fill the house with a wonderful sweet cinnamon scent. Also, would adding butter crumbled into the streusel topping bake up ok?
Can you make this and refrigerate to throw in the oven in the morning?
I would recommend baking the whole thing first, then reheating gently the next morning.
Best coffee cake recipe. I made this 3 times already my husband can’t get enough. Thank you for sharing.
My family loves this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Good coffee cake great flavor. Wondering what i did wrong as the filling all fell to the bottom. I looked back at the instructions and cant figure out why that happened.
Ok talk about winging it, I thought I had a yellow cake mix but it was tresleches. One wasn’t enough so I used two boxes. I also added 3/4 cup sour cream. I completely forgot to add the cinnamon to the strussle and just put it on top. It smells wonderful but we’ll see.
Ok it’s Amazing! I can’t wait to make it again the right way.
I used Biscoff cookie crumbs! Delish!
Absolutely delicious. I was out of graham crackers, so I used vanilla wafer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I did make it. I love adding the layer of streusel to the middle. I had no pecans. And kept saying this would be even better if it had pecans. Thanks for the easy recipe.
Delicious!! Family loved it, and super easy!
Made this tonight and it was delicious. Everyone loved it. Great recipe for dessert or breakfast. Yum
This is a fave with my family! Everyone loves it! Thanks for the wonderful recipe 🙂
Really loved this recipe. The graham cracker crumbs are truly genius, it makes it to-die-for good. I also doubled the glaze as I felt it wasn’t enough. A perfect brunch party recipe and easily made ahead. Thanks!
Lauren, can you pre make to bake next morning. If so, any tips? I plan to use my glass pan.
I mean you can, but I’d probably just bake the whole thing the night before and heat it up gently so it tastes fresh the next morning.
Hi Lauren, This coffee cake looks amazing, in the oven now. Can you freeze it with icing on or left off? Thanks
You can freeze it either way…with or without the icing. I might freeze without the icing because I don’t know if it would make the cake soggy after defrosting.
Sounds great and I’m going to make it for sure. I love the fact you mention international readers. It’s the first time I see this. Thanks!!
Made this with my granddaughter. Easy and SO DELICIOUS! It was devoured by the entire family.
Yum! Love this cake! So easy to make.
This was an easy recipe to make. The only downside is that it doesn’t have that traditional coffee cake texture, it takes more like a cinnamon yellow cake. My daughter loved it though!
Everyone wants this recipe. I like to double the strusel and the icing, they cant get enough. If there were 6 stars, I would have given it. Thankx
Wish I could send this recipe to my email. It is wonderful. Thank you!!!
So easy!
I used a butter pecan cake mix and it was delicious!
This is delicious. I didn’t have a yellow cake mix, but used white instead. It is so moist and delicious, I can’t imagine it could be any better>
Thank you for the recipe. I lost this recipe, that I had for
years. Its my husband’s favorite.
This looks like a keeper. I lost a dear recipe like this but it didn’t use a mix.
I love your recipes and follow you on Instagram but hate your website, sorry! The pop ups Are horrible and the one on the top right that is on always I cannot close so I can read the recipe. ☹️
Amazing recipe ! added some raisins also 🙂 My husband loved it . Definitely a keeper ! Thank you for the recipe !
OMG! So delish! I used almond extract in my glaze. So good! Not as sweet as a store bought coffee cake. That’s why we love it! I tried a few different box cake mixes and I prefer Dunkin Hines Butter Recipe Yellow Mix. My husband doesn’t care for any type of nut so I leave them them out. Still turns out AMAZING!!! I have shared this recipe on Facebook with many of my friends. It’s something ANYONE can make! Thank you Lauren!
Vegan wife here! Hubby wanted coffee cake but he’s vegan. So i made this with white cake mix, applesauce for the egg and plant based butter in the struesel. It came out great. So if you need dairy free or vegan, these substitutions were delicious! Also used oat milk for the glaze and YUM!
Perfect! This was better than I expected…I really don’t care for cake, but with the coffee crumble it changes the texture. I will be making this again thanks for sharing the recipe
I made this coffee cake and it was lite and airy and delicious. But all of my stredul ended up on the bottom of might cake.
What should I do different. I melted the butter before adding the graham crackers, nuts and brown sugar. Was easly to remove from dish while it was warm but everything stuck once it cooled. Please help because this is something my grandchildren will love.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It’s awesome and I love the idea of just using a simple cake mix! I had a craving for an easy Coffee Cake and checked out others on the internet. I tried one from “Cookies & Cups” because it stated it’s the ‘Best Coffee Cake Recipe Ever’, but I was so disappointed!! Then I found yours here and I made it, and oh my gosh …. it’s incredible!! This one is most definitely the best Coffee Cake recipe ever!! This is my new favourite!!
This was very good! We followed the recipe exactly and baked it in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish. However all of our crumble sank to the bottom… Has this happened to anyone else and is there a way to keep the crumble on the top of the cake or no because it is so dense? Thanks!
I just made this yesterday and the same thing happened to me.Any tips?
How big were your crumbles? That’s the only thing I can think of as to why they would all sink to the bottom.
Hello,
Do you think I can add some chopped up apple in the streusel mix?
I don’t believe anyone actually made this, the cake swallowed up the streusel like a cobbler……that’s the trouble with false high rating on blogs,
Question: Has anyone tried sprinkling some baby frozed blueberries in this? If so, any problems? Thanks!
I can tell by the ingredients, this will be delicious!
Mimi
[…] Recipe: laurenslatest […]
Lauren, It was a big hit at an office breakfast party for opening our new employee lounge. One of the executive’s had two pieces. The box cake mix recommended some changes so I added 1/2 cup of coconut milk to the make up the 1 liquid and greek yogurt – and finally a few sprinkles of Ghirardelli semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. Thank you very much.
Can you bake this recipe in a bundt pan? If so, what is the baking time difference.
I have to say this is the best coffee cake I’ve ever made & eaten. Everyone’s praised this cake. Thank you so much for sharing. M Drury. L- burg,Ky
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving brunch. Everyone said it was delicious. I used both chopped walnuts and pecans.
I have the same recipe from the little paper cookbook Taste of home, Fall Baking.
This is a great recipe i switched to after finding it awhile ago. I always loved Sarah Lee pecan coffee cake when i was a kid. This is as close as I have found so far. Guess great Chefs think alike. Love your other recipes.
Do I wait til the cake is completely cooled before adding the icing?
you can!
[…] Recipe: laurenslatest […]
Oh my, I am a coffee cake junkie and just have to try this! Hoping that my family will love it just as much as I do, so I am not forced to eat all of it so it doesn’t go to waste!!
I made this for the first time today. Love this! It will make a great dish to take for the next church pot luck. I have a question. I used a glass container to bake. It took 55 minutes to bake. Is that normal?
I’d like to make this but I can’t use the nuts. Should I just substitute more graham crumbs in place of the nuts?
If I made this on a Thursday evening for a Saturday breakfast (kept covered), would it still be fresh? Should I hold off adding the glaze until I’m ready to serve?
Add cinnamon chips instead of nuts
Can you use a French vanilla cake mix instead?
[…] Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe […]
[…] Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe […]
I make coffee cake or breakfast treat for a committee I’m on every couple of weeks. This is has been going on for years! They said this was the best ever!! It was so yummy and amazing even days later so I bet it would freeze well! Any did I mention easy??!!
[…] Graham Streusel Coffee Cake […]
so where does the coffee part come into the desert, or is it a coffee cake box mixture
Its made to serve WITH coffee, doesn’t necessarily have coffee in it….though i have seen some coffee cakes with coffee added.
It’s a classic recipe, meant to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee. Hence, coffee cake. No coffee IN the cake. Cake to enjoy with coffee. Like tea cakes.
[…] I start up making sweet treats, it’s hard to stop. First my son’s birthday cake, then this Streusel Cake and now NUTELLA HOT FUDGE SAUCE. Let that sink in for a minute. Hot fudge sauce made with a whole […]
I have made this twice now. The first time I followed directions exactly using walnuts. I found the brown sugar over powering. Every body else loved it. It was good just a tad too sweet for me. The second time I upped the Graham crackers to 2 cups and cut back to a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and used pecans instead. I taste tested the topping and it seems perfect to me. It’s in the oven now and I can’t wait to try it!
I have been craving coffee cake and I will be making this recipe because it looks amazing!
OMG I need this in my life right now! And it looks SO easy!
I love this recipe! In el of my kids favorites!
Sounds easy love coffee cake. Can’t wait to try!
Has anyone tried baking it without the nuts? Wondering if it would still turn out good?
As a newer mom, I love the fact that this uses a boxed cake mix. Thank goodness for shortcuts sometimes. Can’t wait to try it!
YUM! Making this weekend for brunch!
I love the semi-homemade recipes you share! (Well, I love ALL the recipes really.) tried this one and it was another hit.
Not having dairy while breastfeeding my milk protein sensitive baby has me dreaming about the day when I can bake with regular butter and milk again. Cakes just aren’t the same! This coffee cake looks delicious and can’t wait to be able to try it and drown it in glaze!
I have made this 3 times since this was posted. My family and dinner company loved it! Thanks!
Thank you for this recipe. It was so delicious! Coffee cake is my favorite breakfast.
This looks so yummy! I love your posts, and I have such a sweet tooth, so definitely going to add this recipe to my notebook of recipes to try!
Finally another way to use up graham crackers. My hubby loves coffee cake, can’t wait to try this!
I love your Blog and am going to try this recipe over the summer when I have more time with my kiddos!
This look delicious and easy to whip up on a Sunday morning. Will try asap.
I can’t wait to make this! I love graham cracker crumbs and this sounds awesome. P.s.can’t wait to read about how your kids like nyc!
Looks delish
This might need to be made soon with chocolate added????
I was looking for something to pass along to a friend whose husband is overseas – hoping it will go well with an egg bake or homemade egg mcmuffins – and I think this is it! Thanks!
Yum!! I’m going to make this asap! I love reading your blog and watching your fun adventures in NYC! Can’t believe it’s been so long since our BYU-I telefund days!
This looks amazing. I need to try it! It’s going on one of my Pinterest boards right now. 🙂
Looks so yummy!
This looks so yummy, i can’t wait to try it.
I’m not a fan of yellow cake and may try this with spice cake mix this weekend. It looks delectable!
OMG I need this in my life.. Looks amazing!! My favorite dessert is coffee cake. Or anything sweet with cinnamon and brown sugar.. 🙂
This looks so yummy! I have a love for coffee and all things that go with it… Including coffee cake 😉
I love following your blog! Every recipe I’ve tried so far has been easy and delicious, and I love the family updates and adventures. I hope you guys are enjoying New York, and I can’t wait to try this recipe!!
This looks so good! My husband always requests coffee cake for Father’s Day so I’m trying yours this year to mix it up! Thanks for sharing.
This looks so good! Can’t wait to try it!
This is something I’m definitely going to make, we love coffee cakes.
Bought the ingredients to make this on the weekend!
Hi Lauren, I’m from Australia and am just wondering if I can’t get hold of Graham Crackers, do you know if they’re like digestive biscuits? I’m not sure what the substitute would be to get this lovely cake right. Thank you x
If those are the same things as they are in Canada, then yes, those should work!!
I made this and it was so good !! Only thing I did diff was doubled the icing and I also added almond flavoring – so good.
Made this today and OMG, this is the best thing I have made in months. I bake a lot, but haven’t done a coffee cake in ages. This is TO DIE FOR and I will be making this again and again. Thanks Lauren!
Awesome!! Glad you liked it!
Any brand cake mix u prefer ? Looks heavenly.
can you use a white cake mix instead?
sure!
Hey! In your post, it says the streusel (YUM) is made with walnuts, but the recipe says pecans. Are they interchangeable? I love coffee cake in a big way and would love to make this soon!
Hope you can get some sleep! Hang in there!
Yes, totally interchangeable! Not sure why I typed pecans!! Haha! I used walnuts 🙂
Instantly loved your ‘streuseled’ heaven cake. I also had a little laugh reading your story of hiring a babysitter while you worked down the hall…laughing with you!