Cinnamon-Swirl Coffee Cake Recipe - The Domestic Diva (2024)

FAQs

What makes coffee cake different from cake? ›

The difference between coffee cake and regular cake is the topping. Coffee cake and regular cake are made with the same ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and butter and a leavening agent like baking powder. The difference is that instead of frosting on top, coffee cakes have crumble or streusel.

Cozy up with Duncan Hines® Dolly Parton's Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Cake & Muffin Mix. Easy to make and deliciously decadent, this crumb cake mix is the perfect way to serve up some sweetness.

Stir vanilla or almond extract into a coffee-scented batter or mix ground spices in with the dry ingredients. Or simmer equal amounts of brewed coffee and sugar together to make a coffee syrup. You can also infuse hot coffee with spices or dissolve instant in vanilla rather than water for an extra flavour hit.

American Coffee cake—also referred to as gugelhupf or Austrian German: kaffekuchen—evolved from other sweet dishes from Vienna. In the 17th century, Northern/Central Europeans are thought to have come up with the idea of eating sweet cakes while drinking coffee.

Add Instant Coffee to the Batter

We recommend dissolving 2-3 tablespoons of instant coffee in 1 tablespoon of hot water. Then add this mixture to the batter along with the other ingredients. This method will give the cake a stronger coffee flavor and a richer color.

I tried 3 boxed white-cake mixes to see which is the best. I'm a baker and I made white cake using boxed mixes from Pillsbury, Duncan Hines, and Betty Crocker. The Duncan Hines cake was moist, not overly sweet, and the fluffiest of the three.

As a professional baker, I don't often use boxed mixes, but I appreciate how easily they bring a cake together. I think premade mixes are great for beginners gaining confidence around the kitchen and also for last-minute cake "emergencies."

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

Yogurt is your best substitute for sour cream. Whether you're baking or making a dip or sauce, yogurt is a 1:1 sub. That means if your recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream, you can replace it with 1 cup of yogurt. Full-fat Greek or natural yogurts work best, but low-fat or even nonfat can be used, too.

Whole milk yogurt works best and brings a big reduction in fat, plus more protein and calcium. Baked goods made with yogurt as a straight substitute for sour cream will turn out less tender, lighter in texture and have a tangier, less buttery flavor.

Why my coffee cake doesn t taste like coffee? ›

But it turns out that espresso powder alone doesn't give the fullest flavor: you need a little bit of spice to bring out the coffee flavor. Add some cinnamon and a hint of cardamom and you play up the coffee flavor in a wonderful new way.

No matter how you approach it, using coffee grounds in your baking will indeed work as a sufficient fill-in for instant espresso, and they will give your dessert the coffee-like flavor it deserves.

You can add either a teaspoon or more of instant coffee, depending on how strong you want the coffee flavor to be, or you can brew some very strong coffee and substitute it for some or all of the liquid the mix calls for.

It's simply a treat that pairs well with a hot cup of joe. What is this? That means if there is caffeine in your coffee cake, it comes from added ingredients. Most coffee cake recipes use all-purpose flour, which doesn't contain any caffeine.

Bakers know that that the easiest way to get coffee flavor into a baked good is to add instant espresso powder to the batter. But it turns out that espresso powder alone doesn't give the fullest flavor: you need a little bit of spice to bring out the coffee flavor.

Curiously, coffee cake contains zero coffee itself. I think (and I am totally speculating here) that it's meant to be served with coffee, sort of in the tradition of tea. My sleuthing on the internet points to origins in German yeasted cakes, but it's not entirely clear.

A coffee cake is a traditional pound cake with a single layer of cinnamon-flavored simple cake with swirls. Contrary to how it's called coffee cake, it doesn't have any coffee ingredients. A coffee cake is a sweet treat with bread-like consistency, texture, and taste served with coffee or tea.