A tender coffee cake with a ribbon of strawberry jam in the middle that goes perfectly with a hot cup of tea. The recipe was inspired by my husband's Aunt Dorothy's Sour Cream Coffee Cake, but I've played with the recipe a bit, lightened it up (so you can have "just one more piece") and simplified the directions! You are going to love it!
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Why you should make this coffee cake now!
I've lightened up the recipe (just a bit) by substituting the sour cream for greek yogurt. I don't know about you, but I don't always have sour cream in the fridge, but there is always Greek yogurt! And, while coffee cakes are often made in bundt pans, I actually suggest making this one in a 9x13 pan for simplicity's sake.
I've also made a change in the streusel topping by opting for old fashioned rolled oats instead of nuts. Oats, a bit lighter, a bit healthier and still give a nice texture to the topping. If you want to use add nuts, I suggest using chopped walnuts as an add on.
Ingredients
A few notes on the ingredients:
- Greek yogurt: I swapped the original sour cream for Greek yogurt. You can easily swap back to sour cream if that's all you have in your refrigerator. I like using Fage 2% (with the green label).
- Strawberry jam: You can either use homemade or store bought strawberry jam or a can of pie filling (which is what the original recipe called for). If you don't like strawberry, any other fruit jam or pie filling will work just as well
- Streusel Topping: This can be made ahead of time. Make it the day before, cover it and pop it in the fridge overnight.
Step by step instructions
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and spraying a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick baking spray. Make sure you spray it liberally so the sugars from the jam don't caramelize and stick too much!
Make the streusel in a small bowl, by mixing the ingredients together with a fork until it resembles course sand. Set aside.
Then, in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer), combine all of the cake ingredients except the strawberry jam. Mix until all of the ingredients are combined into a thick batter, but try not to overmix.
Into your prepared pan, spread half of the batter mixture. This batter is THICK, so you might need to get in there with your hands to get an even layer. I like to wet my hands just a little and then coax the batter into the corners.
Then, spread the jam over this layer of batter. It does not have to look perfect at all, just do your best to make it even-ish.
Now, do your best to spread the remaining batter over the jam layer. Sometimes I don't even spread it out, I just place dollops of batter and pray that it spreads out well 😂.
Lastly, sprinkle the streusel over the cake until the batter is completely covered.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean and the top is golden brown. All ovens are a little bit different, so use this time as a guideline. Your nose and eyes will tell you when this coffee cake is done.
Let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before serving. Cut, serve and enjoy with a cup of your favorite homemade iced mocha or tea!
Frequently Asked Questions about this coffee cake
My 5 year old asked me this when I was testing the recipe, and I realized that I had the very same question, so I'm guessing you may as well. Coffee cake is meant to be enjoyed with friends over a cup of coffee. It's thought that this started when people wanted a little sweet treat with their afternoon coffee. This is a good enough answer for me!
Nope, but making homemade jam is really simple if you have a bit of time. We go strawberry picking in June most summers and spend an afternoon making and canning strawberry jam that lasts us the rest of the year. If you want to try your hand at it, check out the freshpreserving.com website for great canning info.
In the original recipe for this coffee cake a can of cherry pie filling was the "secret" ingredient. If you want to use pie filling, go for it. One can will work perfectly do and you can pick any flavor that you like.
Nope. In fact, this coffee cake with strawberry jam, isn't baked in a bundt pan. Rather to keep things simple, it's baked in a 9x13 baking pan that is a staple in most kitchens. It can be made a beautiful ceramic baking dish, a regular metal brownie pan, or even a 9×13 disposable foil pan. I don't want a fancy pan to keep you from making this most delicious cake!
One more simple tip
- The batter will come together best if your ingredients are all at room temperature. Take out the butter, yogurt and eggs about 30 minutes before you start baking for best results.
Looking for more perfect treats to share with a friend? Try these:
When you try this recipe and love it 😍 let me know by leaving a comment below or 5 ⭐ rating!
📖 Recipe
Coffee Cake with Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
cake batter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ sticks butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 8 oz. strawberry jam can be homemade or store bought
streusel topping
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- ½ cup old fashioned rolled oats
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Prepare a 9x13 baking pan by liberally spraying with baking spray
- In a mixing bowl of stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar, then add the remaining ingredients (except the strawberry jam) to the bowl and mix until combined.
- Spread half of the batter mixture in the baking pan. You may need to use your hands to spread the batter, it's thick!
- Spread jam onto batter in the pan in an even layer.
- Cover with remaining half of batter, doing your best to spread evenly over the top.
- Make the streusel, by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl and mixing until well combined with a fork (or your fingers). It should look a bit like wet sand.
- Sprinkle the streusel over the cake evenly. Then put the cake into the 350 degree oven.
- Bake for 45-50 mins until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean and top is golden brown.
- Let cool about 30 minutes and serve warm!
Notes
Nutrition
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Tanya says
Tasty but mine turned out completely different from your photo. Didn’t bake up very high, topping sunk to the bottom and formed a buttery, crispy layer... I think maybe I should have creamed the butter and sugar together and gradually added in wet ingredients and then dry instead of adding all but the jam to the bowl like you suggested.... also maybe not enough flower - my batter wasn’t super thick. Anyone else have problems?
Marni Katz says
Tanya - I'm glad this tasted good, but I'm sorry you didn't get the same result. If your batter wasn't super thick, you can try adding more flour. I'm going to make this again in the next few days, and if I have any other easy tips, I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks for the feedback!
Susan Lockett says
Very thin batter...perhaps the ingredient list is short by one cup flour?
Marni Katz says
Susan - Thanks for the feedback. I've actually just updated this post and also caught a mistake in the ingredients. I hope you'll try it again 🙂