Slightly Healthier Coffee Cake Recipe

In one random Seinfeld episode, early on, there’s a scene in which Jerry dangles a piece of “Drake’s coffee cake” in front of Newman as bait. I didn’t know what that product was. In fact, I didn’t even know what coffee cake was!

Turns out that Australians and British people think coffee cake should taste like coffee. But in the US, coffee cake is a cinnamon crumb cake that’s served with coffee. Interesting.

I tried out a different recipe, but it was too light. I understand coffee cake is supposed to be denser. So I tried again. I also made it slightly healthier, reducing the butter and sugar, and using yoghurt and banana instead. It’s still a high carb cake, but it’s just not as intense as the original.

Again, I’m not a food blogger or professional chef — just an amateur who enjoys baking and sharing. I put these recipes up mostly as I write them down anyway, and want to keep them somewhere accessible and sharable.

Printable version:

Somewhat_Healthier_Coffee_Crumb_Cake_Recipe Download

Some features of coffee cake are

Density — a coffee cake is moist and a bit dense. It’s not light and sponge-like. (But definitely sponge-worthy…)
Cinnamon flavouring — there’s cinnamon in the middle layer as well as in the crumb.
A crumb or streusel — a crunchy top made of cinnamon, sugar, and flour. I like calling it a streusel because I can get by in German and I’m a pretentious douchebag, fine, whatever.
Optional — icing. I have seen some recipes with icing. To me, this is sweet enough, so I don’t include it

You can make this about 90 minutes before serving, start to finish.

This recipe is based on a number of other recipes, but converted to metric ingredients, and lightened the amount of sugar and fat. The first time I made this it was delicious, but just too sweet and buttery! C’mon. It just didn’t feel like an everyday cake.

Ingredients

I’m grouping this into three parts, as I have grouped the instructions.

Cinnamon Filling:

3/4 cups light brown sugar (or a mixture of brown and white, as I used)
3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Streusel (crumb):

85 g butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup flour

Cake:

120g butter, softened to room temp
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 very ripe banana
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
3 2/3 cups flour

Instructions

Again, this is broken up into three parts.

Make the cinnamon filling:
- In a bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon until combined. Set aside.
Make the crumb topping:
- Mix melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour until it forms coarse crumbs. Use your hands to create larger crumb pieces. Set aside.

About now, preheat the oven to 175°C (fan forced). Grease a large rectangular baking dish with oil and line it with baking paper.

Make the cake batter:
- In a large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix until smooth. Mash in the ripe banana.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- On low speed, add flour, milk and yoghurt, alternating between the dry and wet. Mix until just combined.
Assemble the cake in four layers:
- Spread half the batter into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon filling evenly over the batter.
- Gently spread the remaining batter on top.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the cake.
Bake for 45–55 minutes, or until a skewer (or chopstick or fork) inserted in the center comes out clean. (In my heavier pan, it took 55 minutes, actually.)
Cool the cake completely on a wire rack.