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Bakery-Style Coffee Cake Muffins are moist, flavorful, and topped with plenty of buttery crumbs. This is one of those recipes you’ll make over and over again!
Coffee Cake Muffin Recipe
So this recipe was inspired by the giant muffins I always find myself lusting after at the coffee shop or corner bakery. You know the ones I’m talking about, right? With the crumbs and the glaze and the cinnamon swirl and THE CRUMBS. The ones that smell so buttery it makes your heart flutter and your knees buckle! Yeah, those. They’re so good!
But these are better! Like, so much better.
And I’ll let you in on a little secret: coffee cake muffins are the ULTIMATE brunch recipe! And I say with that with great confidence, because every time I bring these to an event the only thing I go home with is crumbs… and requests for the recipe!
And with Mother’s Day right around the corner, I knew I needed to share them with you! Because trust me… they’re a must have on your menu! So, let’s get baking ♥
Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success:
- Despite its name, there’s actually no coffee in coffee cake, or coffee cake muffins. If you’re looking for a caffeinated treat, check out my coffee lovers chocolate cake donuts 😉
- You’ll want to make the buttery crumb topping first since it will absorb the butter as it sits and become more crumbly by the time you’re ready to use it.
- Before assembling the muffin batter, be sure to bring your butter, eggs, yogurt, and buttermilk to room temperature.
- The batter will be very thick! Avoid over mixing it or your muffins will bake up dense.
- When you’re adding the cinnamon sugar layer, aim to pile it in the center of the batter.
- And gently push the streusel topping into the batter. This helps it stay put as the muffins bake and rise.
- To avoid over baking, keep an eye on your muffins after the 20 minute mark. If your crumbs are getting too dark, you can loosely tent a piece of foil on top of the pan, but be careful here because opening the oven can cause the muffins to sink.
- In my opinion, these muffins are best eaten warm the day they’re made, but they’ll “keep” for 48 hours.
- I suggest glazing the coffee cake muffins right before you plan on serving them. This ensure the tops don’t get too moist and soggy. This will also help prevent premature molding.
While these bakery-style coffee cake muffins don’t have any coffee in them, they’re incredible enjoyed with coffee! And on that note… I have one left and it’s calling my name 😉
If you try this recipe for Bakery-Style Coffee Cake Muffins, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on instagram! Seeing your creations makes my day ♥
Bakery-Style Coffee Cake Muffins
Ingredients
For the Buttery Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup (57g/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (50g/1 and 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (57g/2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
For the Cinnamon Sugar Swirl:
- 1/3 cup (50g/1 and 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the Muffins:
- 3 cups (361g/12 and 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (113g/4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (198g/7 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (53g/1 and 7/8 ounces) light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (113g/4 ounces) buttermilk
- 1/2 cup (113g/4 ounces) full-fat sour cream
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup (113g/4 ounces) confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the Buttery Crumb Topping:
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the melted butter, mixing just until combined. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the recipe. The mixture will absorb the butter as it sits and become more crumbly by the time you’re ready to use it.
For the Cinnamon Sugar Layer:
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
For the Muffins:
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, combine the butter and both sugars and beat on medium-low speed until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes. Add in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the vanilla, buttermilk, and sour cream. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Be sure not to over mix here.
For the Glaze:
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, buttermilk, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Add more confectioners' sugar to thicken or more buttermilk to thin.
Assembly:
- Scoop a large spoonful of batter into each prepared muffin cup and, using a lightly greased spoon, spread it into the edges of the cup. Evenly divide the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter, aiming to pile it in the center of the each cup. Divide remaining batter evenly among the muffin cups, then use a lightly greased spoon to push it down on the sides to enclose the cinnamon sugar.
- Crumble up the topping and evenly distribute it on top of the 12 muffins, piling it high in the center. Gently push the streusel into the batter. This helps it stay put as the muffins bake.
- Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan, placed on top of a wire rack, for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a large serving plate.
- Drizzle a little glaze on top of each muffin and serve warm.
omg yes these are totally the muffins I ogle at bakeries too! YUUUM
Mmm. So good. I added blueberries to mine. I guess I will start my diet tomorrow (after breakfast)!
Yum!! We support any diet that starts with muffins 🙂
Can you adjust this to make 6 jumbo muffins and how would that affect baking time?
Can buttermilk be substituted with regular milk?
Mix half a cup of milk with a teaspoon and a half of distilled white vinegar, then let it stand for 5 minutes. The milk will become buttermilk and works as good as the real thing
I made jumbo and it made 12. They baked for twenty minutes.
I love baking, but admittedly am not great at it. These came out tasting delicious, but were unfortunately really dry. Is it possible I over-baked them or over-mixed the batter?
That could be it! Keep mixer on medium or even med-low when mixing the butter,sgar,eggs and rest of wet ingredients. Recipe says low for adding the dry ingedients.i always suggest mixing the dry ingredients in by hand with a sturdy spoon for muffins and quick breads and only until everything is JUST combined.should not be smooth like a cake batter. Try again….this is good recipe so follow it to “t” . You can tweak around with it after you master just this.
Hi flour compacts easily so weigh your flour instead of using a measuring cup you can find kitchen scales online or at most major retailers. Make sure it has a Tare function on it and zero it out after you put your bowl on the scale then add the flour. Even a couple of extra tablespoons of flour will affect any baked recipe.
Hi there. I wanted to try these in 6 jumbo sized.
What would I modify the baking temp and time to?
Thank you for your creative insights!
Joelle
made these for a facs class at hour school and it really was a treat. the hole class ogled at them. wow what a lovely treet for us
PARIS
That could be it! Keep mixer on medium or even med-low when mixing the butter,sgar,eggs and rest of wet ingredients. Recipe says low for adding the dry ingedients.i always suggest mixing the dry ingredients in by hand with a sturdy spoon for muffins and quick breads and only until everything is JUST combined.should not be smooth like a cake batter. Try again….this is good recipe so follow it to “t” . You can tweak around with it after you master just this. OH…. and check the date on bottom of your baking powder can especially if you don’t bake much.
Sounds delicious. Any suggestions to how much time to bake mini muffin version?
Great recipe!
Do these freeze well at all?
I was wondering if you can freeze these muffins also. I did not see a response to this earlier question. And if so, for how long would you recommend at a time?
Tasty recipe but shaking in my boots I decided to cook them at 350 because 400 seemed to high especially for cupcakes, they cooked great at 20 mins. But of course this depends on your oven.
Why does it not call for coffee this makes no sense to me ????
Coffee cake of any kind is called that because it is thought to generally be served alongside coffee. There could be a recipe with coffee in it, but I’ve never seen one.
The muffins just came out of the oven and look great. My negative comment is: In what universe would this recipe take only 15 minutes to prepare? I am not a professional Baker but have been baking since I was a kid many years ago. It took me more than 15 minutes just to make 4 layers in the muffin cups. There are 4 separate parts to the recipe. I am glad I decided to make them the evening before I need them for brunch. If I hadn’t, I would have had to abandon the project to get to the event on time.
These muffins looks just perfect!! I am crazy about muffins and always order a muffin if I go to a coffee shop. Sadly most of muffins I see here in my country looks so sad and small with no “belly top” 🙁
I’m definitely going to try this recipe for my coffee time snack!
Hiiiii im a young baker and I want to make these delicious muffins right away but I don’t have any sour cream, is it fine if I don’t add the sour cream and substituted with milk or anything else??
This is also something people dont always have on hand but as a Baker if I dont have sour cream I use Greek yogurt instead.
All of the work put into these muffins were totally worth it!!
All of the work put into these muffins were totally worth it!!!
These muffins were very labor intensive but absolutely worth the time!! I made them exactly as written with no changes. They were beautiful and delicious. My whole family raved over them and I have never made a more beautiful muffin!! Thanks for the recipe.
I want to make these but was wondering if it matters if I use dark brown sugar? Light brown is not available here where I live .
Mix half dark brown sugar and half granulated sugar if you worry thst the dark sugar will be too strong becsuse of the molasses.
Hi dear
This is amazing and one of my best muffins I’ve ever made the texture of the muffins combined with the delicious crumbs OMG ,,, I add some nut- meg and a little bit of pumpkins pie spices which completed the flavors
Thanks you so much for this lovely recipe 😉
I made these today. These muffins were delicious. I did not find the to be labor intensive at all. Your directions were very clear. Thank you for sharing it with us.
361gms of flour is just over 1.5 cups of flour
I’ve always used 124 grams of all-purpose flour as equal to a cup, but some people use 120, which is what it seems the author uses. I used this measurement and it turned out perfectly.
If I want to make them into 12 jumbo muffins how would I tweak the recipe?
My muffins just came out of the oven…OMG! They look beautiful and smell so good. I didn’t find them labor intensive at all…but baking is my hobby and therapy. Can’t wait to give one to my husband.
I followed the directions explicitly. Given the sugar in the recipe then with the cinnamon sugar, the muffins were too sweet. (Didn’t ice them as they were already to sweet). Recipe says makes 12 muffins. Again using normal size muffin pans the recipe make over a dozen and a half.
Description says to leave the yogurt out but there is none in the recipe, wondering if it should say sour cream instead or should the recipe include yogurt?
Hi! Delicious recipe! I have an issue where my crumb is always a little crunchy and I would rather it be soft and crumbly. Any suggestions?
Thank you!!
Instead of using all white sugar, I will mix in a bit of brown sugar. The higher ratio of white sugar, the harder it will end up. Maybe 1TBS brown sugar per 1 cup of white sugar would be enough to soften it a bit. Good luck!
Made them this afternoon, turned out great. I also made a cream cheese filling. Great recipe.
Can I replace egg in this recipe?
I don’t suggest it and cannot advise how.
Can they’ve frozen before glazing
I made these for a staff appreciation event and they turned out great. Baked them in those tulip parchment liners (for extra fancy bakery feel) and wrapped them up individually in cellophane with a lovely gift tag I found on Etsy. Such a cute package! I sampled one with a steamy mug of coffee, what a decadent little moment in my day!
This cake is a keeper !!!!!!
What can I use as a replacement for sour cream for the muffin batter
This recipe looks and sounds amazing. However, I’m allergic to dairy so I’ll have to play with it a bit to find the right substitutions to make it come out right. Your pictures have kicked my salivary glands into overdrive…
Will this recipe work well for 6 jumbo muffins instead of 12 regular size muffins?
Soooo Yummy!!!!!
Mine unfortunately burnt on the bottom and I’m not quite sure why. The very bottom is the only thing that did burn, any ideas why?