If there’s one recipe I’ve been perfecting during quarantine, it’s coffee cake. Specifically this coffee cake.
It’s been an adjustment having 3 square meals a day as a family of 4. We are very fortunate that my husband has been working from home & will continue to do so for some time. We’ve really loved all of the extra time we’re spending together as a family – praise the Lord for some of the good that has come out of a terrible situation. However, this has meant he’s home for breakfast & lunch every single day. Before all of this we’d only have breakfast together on the weekends. Cold cereal & breakfast bars get pretty old when we have a lot more time in the mornings. Hence this coffee cake.
I’ve mentioned before how sweetened cream cheese has become my new thing, & this recipe features it beautifully. The cake part itself is really simple; it’s the filling & the streusel that really make this recipe.
If you prepare the cream cheese ahead of time, you can be eating warm coffee cake in the morning in about 45 minutes – most of that being bake time. What I love about this recipe is that it’s perfectly delicious as written, but also totally customizable. Add more spices to the streusel. Use strawberry cream cheese. The sky is the limit.
Cream Cheese Stuffed Coffeecake with Cinnamon Streusel
Makes one 8″ x 8″ coffeecake
For the cake:
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup any milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the streusel:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon (use up to 1 tbsp for more cinnamon flavor)
- 3 tbsp salted butter, melted
For the filling:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8″ square pan with parchment paper, leaving two sides overhanging.
- First, make the streusel by combining all 4 streusel ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
- To make the cake: combine oil, egg, vanilla, & milk in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, & salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients & mix (by hand or by machine) until combined. Batter will be thick.
- Spread half of the batter into the lined square pan. Spread the sweetened cream cheese over the batter & then spread the rest of the batter on top. It is ok if some of the cream cheese is exposed.
- Spread the streusel over the batter & bake for 25-30 minutes. The streusel will not change color much, so test after 25 minutes & if a toothpick comes out with just a bit of cream cheese & moist crumbs it’s ready. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before carefully lifting out of the pan using parchment paper.
- Enjoy with a fresh cup of coffee, obviously 😉
Mrs. Dessert Monster 