Streusel ratio: This was a huge factor that affected rankings. However, I included a few observations around technique below. (Except maybe that tasters preferred streusels made with brown sugar). In looking at the ingredient breakdowns of the cake/streusels below, I struggled to identify any major themes. This is reflected in the clumping of rankings below: Factors While a few coffee cakes stood out for things like an extreme amount of streusel or brown sugar, a fair amount of coffee cakes were all relatively similar. Overall, this was a more difficult bake off to judge than I anticipated. (I note my personal favorites at the veryyyyy bottom of this post under recommendations.) I note in the factors below a few reasons why some of my top picks fared more poorly. Perhaps I’ll do a separate coffee cake with nuts bake off in the future! ResultsĪnother bake off, another set of results that didn’t quite align with my personal rankings. Ina, Martha, America’s Test Kitchen, etc.), it’s because they include nuts. If you see any notable recipes missing (i.e. (I couldn’t find any data to back up this up, just my personal opinion.) It also seemed fairer for an apples-to-apples comparison. Why did the recipe have to include a layer of filling? To me, traditional coffee cake should also have a swirl of filling in the middle. Thus, I felt it would be unfair to mix the two. While crumb cake could technically be categorized as coffee cake, I think it’s a specific, very delicious sub-category. Their crumbs may be thicker and crunchier than those found on coffee cake. Crumb cakes are generally single layer cakes with a significantly thicker layer of crumbs (there can be dangerously little cake). What is the difference between coffee cake and crumb cake? Internet consensus seems to boil it down to the streusel. I know, ANY cake can be eaten alongside coffee. Confusingly, it typically does not include coffee IN the cake, it’s simply made to be eaten alongside coffee. Traditional American-style coffee cake is most commonly a sour cream-based pound cake cake layered with cinnamon sugar and streusel. So I narrowed the contenders for this bake off to the following requirements: Imperial granulated sugar and dark brown sugarĪs I started scraping recipes for this bake off, I found a TON of coffee cake recipes.Kroger buttermilk, whole milk and heavy cream.What’s Gaby Cooking was baked in a metal 9″ pan.Most recipes were baked in a 9×13 or 8×8 glass pan lined with parchment paper.All tasters ranked each coffee cake on a scale from 0-10 for taste, texture and overall as a whole.

All 9 recipes were made and baked the day of tasting.METHODOLOGY // RESULTS // FACTORS // ANALYSIS // RECOMMENDATIONS Methodology As for the cake? I like my cake texture a little drier–best for eating with coffee or tea! I love a generous amount of giant, salty, brown sugary crumbs of streusel. My ideal coffee cake? A plush, fluffy cake divided by a cinnamon-spiked, fudgy-but-not-gooey swirl. But I never get around to it, so here’s my attempt to find the best from-scratch coffee cake that’s worth the effort. I always refrain with the justification that I can make that at home. I almost never order coffee cake at bakeries or coffee shops.

Top heavy crumb cake recipe