Double-Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

This moist, buttery Double-Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake is filled with fresh berries and two layers of rich, nutty streusel. Perfect for a relaxing weekend morning or afternoon snack.

This sourdough coffee cake recipe is an excellent way to use up extra sourdough starter. It’s easy to make, tastes amazing, and is perfect for any occasion when you want a little something sweet.

Jump to:

• What the Story Behind Sourdough Coffee Cake?
• What Goes into this Sourdough Discard Recipe?
• How to Make this Sourdough Coffee Cake Recipe
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top Tip
• FAQ
• More Sourdough Recipes
• Double-Crumb Sourdough Coffee Cake

What the Story Behind Sourdough Coffee Cake?

My mom use to mix up a coffee cake on Sunday mornings once or twice a month. It took nearly an hour to bake, and in that time, our house would fill with the scents of roasting walnuts, caramelizing brown sugar, and warm vanilla cake.

There were only two things wrong with Mama's coffee cake: it took way too long to bake, and there was never enough of that sweet, nutty, crumb topping! 

I can’t change the baking time problem – it’s still going to take almost an hour to bake. But I’ve definitely resolved the crumb dilemma!

What Goes into this Sourdough Discard Recipe?

Sourdough Coffee Cake

• Sourdough Starter: Use Unfed Starter or Discard for this recipe. 
  • Unfed Starter is healthy, vigorous Starter that has not been fed for 12 hours or more. By hour 12, it collapsed after Ripening, and is ready to be fed again or put in the fridge until next time.
  • Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you get rid of when you do a feeding. It should be healthy and vigorous, with some small bubbling activity.
• Butter: We use salted butter, but unsalted butter will also work.
• Milk: For a more tender cake, use whole milk.
• Sugar: Use plain granulated sugar.
• Flour: Use all-purpose flour.
• Eggs: We use USDA large eggs. (EU size medium)
• Vanilla
• Baking powder
• Salt

Optional (but delicious!)

• Berries: Use fresh or frozen whole cranberries or blueberries. Allow frozen berries to thaw completely before adding them to the batter.
  • No berries? No problem! You can leave the berries out altogether. Any way you make it, it's going to be delicious! 
• Citrus zest: Use orange zest with cranberries; lemon zest with blueberries

Streusel

This recipe makes double the amount of streusel traditionally used. If you prefer your coffee cake with less crumble topping, it’s an easy fix: just make less of the topping.

• Nuts: Use finely chopped nuts of any variety or combination, including: walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts (filberts), Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, almonds, etc.
• Brown sugar: In most cases, we preferred light brown sugar for this nut crumble recipe. Dark brown sugar lends a more intense flavor, and works well for topping molasses based quick breads.
• Flour: Use all-purpose flour. Almond flour also works.
• Cinnamon: Spices are can add flavor and depth to your crumble. I usually add spices that mirror those in whatever I'm topping; cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and pumpkin pie spice are all good choices. Mix any dry spices into the flour and sugar mixture.
• Kosher salt
• Vanilla: Use vanilla extract, or sub in the flavor of your choice to go with whatever you're topping.
• Butter: We recommend using salted butter. Coconut oil also works.

How to Make this Sourdough Coffee Cake Recipe

Note: These process pictures highlight how to make Cranberry-Orange Sourdough Coffee Cake.

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).

Grease a 9" square pan, or spray with cooking spray.

Streusel Topping

For complete directions and more tips on how to make the nut crumble, visit our Nut Streusel Topping recipe.

I usually chop nuts for recipes by hand, but for this recipe, you want them a little finer. I recommend using a nut mill for this step; or you can small food processor, processing the nuts a handful at a time, pulsing quickly a few times with each batch.

You want most of the walnuts to be finely chopped, but you don't want to make nut butter. It's good to have a few bigger pieces here and there. It gives the Crumb Topping a more interesting texture, too.

In a medium bowl, whisk together nuts, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, cinnamon, and salt.

Add vanilla and melted butter and mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Make the Cake Batter

You can use a hand mixer if you want, but I prefer mixing this cake entirely by hand. Either way, it will take you about 15 minutes to get it in the oven.

In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to break down butter.

In a large mixing bowl, use a spatula to combine sugar and butter. It doesn't need to be pretty; just mix it in thoroughly.

Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture one at a time, stirring thoroughly to combine after each addition.

Stir in vanilla and sourdough starter. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together 2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add dry ingredients to Starter mixture and stir to combine. Add milk and mix until smooth.

Stir in zest and berries.

Assemble the Coffee Cake

Assembling the coffee cake is easy, but spreading the second layer of cake batter (step C) does take a bit of patience. 

(A) Spread one-half cake batter in the bottom of a prepared pan.

(B) Sprinkle one-half crumble mixture over the top. Press the crumble down very lightly with your hands.

(C) CAREFULLY distribute the rest of the batter on top of the first crumb layer. The idea is to mix in as little of the crumb mixture into the cake batter as possible.

I do this by dropping dollops of batter over the top of the crumb layer, and then carefully spreading it to the edges using a frosting spatula or the back of a spoon.

(D) Sprinkle the second half of the crumble mixture over the top. Press the crumble down very lightly with your hands.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes.

Open the oven door and gently cover the cake top with a piece of foil. Basically, just lay the foil over the top. This will keep the topping from over browning during the final minutes of baking.

Close the oven and continue baking for an additional 10-20 minutes (for a total of 45-55 minutes cooking time), or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

Variations

• Cranberry Orange Sourdough Coffee Cake: Use cranberries and orange zest.
• Blueberry Lemon Sourdough Coffee Cake: Use blueberries and lemon zest.

Equipment

A nut mill is an old-fashioned kitchen necessity; it does just one job, and it does it very well. The nut mill I use today is the same one I used to chop nuts for my mother when I was a toddler: this is not a piece of equipment you will need to purchase twice.

It may take a little more time, but using the mill, I never have to worry about over-chopping; or worse yet, ending up with nut butter. More importantly, the action of the mill presses the nuts as they are cranked through the hopper, extracting some of the nuts' oils, which in turn intensifies their flavors.

Storage

Like most sweet cakes, coffee cake keeps well when properly stored.

• On the Counter: Store coffee cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
• Refrigerator: Store coffee cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
• Freezer: Double wrap in plastic wrap, then seal in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

Top Tip

Best Temperature for Butter When Making Cakes

According to America's Test Kitchen, when making cakes, 67°F (19°C) is optimal for the softened butter. I concur, but with a caveat.

After testing for butter temp on multiple batches and cakes, I agree that 67°F (19°C) is perfect when you are using an electric mixer to make your cake batter. However, when beating cakes like this one - by hand - it works best if the butter is 70°-72°F (21°-22°C). The small difference in temperature makes a huge difference in how easy it is to mix, and does not seem to affect the outcome of the cake.

In any case, it is critical that the butter be at least 65°F (18°C) when mixing coffee cake batter, and no warmer than 75°F (24°C) or the cake may go flat. (You can check the temperature with an instant read thermometer.)

FAQ

More Sourdough Recipes

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