This Sour Cream Coffee Cake is a bit different than the baked goods you may have seen on this site in the past. The main difference? It’s sweeter, and more like traditional coffee cake than my Pear Pecan version.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
I don’t necessarily have an excellent reason for why this is. Basically, I was home drinking coffee on Friday and was hungry, but didn’t want eggs and vegetables, or leftover dinner.
I wanted something muffin-like. I almost made a batch of my blueberry muffins with the frozen blubes I have, but then thought; blueberry coffee cake? Blueberry coffee cake with sour cream? And then I started googling sour cream coffee cake recipes and then I decided I just wanted a simple, classic, cinnamon-y sour cream coffee cake with streusel and crumb topping. You know, coffee cake that tastes like a cinnamon bun.
And now you know what goes on in my head most mornings. It’s a whole lot of indecision before anything happens.
I realize that the holidays are coming up, and you might have more family in your house than usual, or you might be visiting family and find yourself short on breakfast options. This could be your solution.
What I’m saying is: This Sour Cream Coffee Cake is gluten-free and grain-free, but does not taste like “A Paleo Baked Good”, so your family members who eat gluten and sugar will most likely gobble up this cake and say – possibly with cake still in their mouth – “I thought your were on that gluten-free / paleo / weird meat diet.”
And then you can tell them that you are, still, and that this cake is not made of meat but is gluten-free and higher in fat and marginally better for them than the boxed one from the supermarket. Or you can tell them nothing, I’m not here to tell you how to handle your family.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
gluten-free sour cream coffee cake that no one will know is gluten-free.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 9 -12 pieces
- Category: Baked Goods
Ingredients
For the Streusel & Topping:
- 4 tablespoons butter, (softened)
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Coffee Cake:
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup arrowroot starch
- 3 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and butter an 8×8 inch baking dish.
To make the topping:
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and use your hands to mix it all together so it’s a somewhat damp crumb mixture. (Alternately, you can pulse the ingredients a few times in a food processor). Set aside.
To make the cake:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, coconut palm sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream.
- Sift in the dry ingredients and stir until it’s just mixed.
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle in 1/3 of the streusel, and then pour in the remaining batter. Top with the remaining streusel.
- Bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting.
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Ann says
Hi- do you think an almond milk plain yogurt could sub for the sour cream?
My mother used to make this and I miss it (and her:)
Thanks!
zenbelly says
Aw <3 I think that could work, but they're often a bit thinner than sour cream so the batter might not be as thick - which is probably fine. If you do try it, please report back so others have the info! I would love if it could be made dairyfree.
Dee Kulbacki says
Hi,
Is there a difference between Coconut Sugar (streusel ingredients) and Coconut Palm Sugar (coffee cake ingredients)?
Both of my bags (had it, forgot I had it, bought again… oops!) are Coconut Palm Sugar.
Thanks!
zenbelly says
Hi Dee! Same thing, I’m a dummy for calling it two different things in the same recipe, I’ll fix that! And I can’t tell you how many bags of multiple things I have for that very same reason.
Lisa Denmark says
Hi Simone! I made your sour cream coffee cake yeaterday morning. It is another one of your recipes that is a huge hit with my family. If you opened a restuarant it would be a tremendous success. Grateful you continue to create healthier and delicious recipes and share them with the world. Thank you ❤ Lisa D
zenbelly says
Thanks so much Lisa, I’m so glad to hear that! <3
Leslie says
Hi Simone,
First I must say that I am a dedicated follower of yours. I found this recipe a little too sweet for us. I will make it again and cut back on the sugar amounts. I hope that I don’t bastardize your lovely recipe too much. Other than being less sweet tasting can you point out the possible pitfalls of using less sugar in this recipe? I’m thinking 1/3 cup in the topping and 1/2 in the cake.
Thank you for your wonderful creativity, hard work, and for sharing it. Yes, I would get on an airplane to go to your restaurant.
Leslie
zenbelly says
Hi Leslie,
Thanks for the nice note. I understand that it’s people’s instinct to scroll past the content of the post to get to the recipe, (I literally do this every single time) but the first paragraph is This Sour Cream Coffee Cake is a bit different than the baked goods you may have seen on this site in the past. The main difference? It’s sweeter, and more like traditional coffee cake than my Pear Pecan version.
It was intentional to make it sweeter, as a contrast to all of the other coffee cakes and muffins on this site. I wanted it to taste more like a traditional baked good for people who are used to eating those, specifically for people who have family in town for holidays and don’t want to deal with them saying their treats taste “healthy”
So yes, you can add less sugar. Adding or subtracting ingredients will always change the end result and it’s impossible to say how without testing it. There are also tons of baked goods recipes on this site that are less sweet, since that’s the type of baked good I normally put on this blog.
Thanks for your support and the kind words! <3
leslie says
I’ve made your pear pecan coffee cake and love it. I actually did, and usually do, read thru (albeit fast) the content but I clearly didn’t heed your words. My mistake. And you are right, there are tons of delicious desserts on your site with less sugar. I’m glad that I spoke out because it is clear to me now that you haven’t gone rogue on Paleo. Thank you for your kindness!
zenbelly says
Definitely not rogue, just loosening the reins a bit, once in a while. I definitely make it a priority to include subs in every case possible for people on diets that are more restrictive than the recipe as written. But once in a while, I might just post a recipe that’s “off the rails”, for those who are GF but without other restrictions. I feel like with the number of strict paleo recipes on this site, I won’t be hurting anyone by doing that. 🙂 Thanks for your understanding and I’m glad we talked, too. Enjoy the Shepherd’s Pie!
Leslie says
P.S. we are having Moroccan Shepard’s Pie for dinner Friday night. Yum!