Extra Moist Lemon Coffee Cake with Icing
This bright Lemon Coffee Cake is sending traditional coffee cake to the curb. The cake is bursting with lemon flavor galore, extra tender and moist, and so delicious. Lemon-flavored sponge cake, a brown sugar cinnamon center, a crumbly topping, and a slick lemony-vanilla icing to finish…sheesh. This lemon coffee cake makes for a lovely breakfast/brunch treat alongside your favorite hot beverage, mmm!
Happy summer solstice, peeps! ☀️
Aight now, we’ve officially entered that season where we’re grilling nonstop, at the pool or beach 24/7, and debating on whether or not to preheat the oven, ha! Listen, the answer to the latter is YES…especially for this lemon coffee cake. I took my love of lemon flavored eats and my other love for traditional coffee cake and developed this beauty just for you. And this one here, whew.
Lemon Coffee Cake 🍋
Goodness gracious, this lemony cake is full of flavor and textures and sooo delicious! Aside from those notes, this lemon coffee cake is deeply moist and it’s clutch along with a hot cup of tea or coffee in your morning routine. Three separate components are going on here: a lemon-forward cake, a warm brown sugar + cinnamon layer, and a crumbly topping. It’s the perfect summer bake!
What You’ll Need For This Lemon Cake Recipe:
A good amount of pantry staples, nothing too out of the ordinary in this lineup.
The one ingredient that I want to highlight is the use of boxed Jell-O instant pudding & pie filling. Using this dry pudding mix in baked goods is a popular trick to greatly improve a cake’s texture and flavor! I’ve been using it for years and cannot sing the praises of its use in applications like this enough. It deepens the lemon notes and makes this lemon coffee cake super moist and tender.
How To Make Lemon Coffee Cake:
(Note: please see the recipe card directly below for the complete written instructions.)
- We’ll start with the cake foundation, the lemon cake batter.
- Next, whip up the cinnamon sugar center & crumb topping.
Assemble & Bake:
- Put it all together in a tube pan & bake!
- Finish the coffee cake with icing, yummo.
A note on the icing element: I teased this recipe on my Insta when it was still under development and did a poll on icing versus no icing. An overwhelming amount of you said heck yes to icing so I included it but wrote it as an optional component here. Psst, though I’m biased, everyone I’ve served this lemon coffee cake to with the icing has raved about it 😉!
Tips + Tricks & More Recipe Notes:
More information you might find helpful about this recipe:
- Gluten-free needs?– Swap the all-purpose flour for any gluten-free baking flour as a 1:1 ratio (we love Bob’s Red Mill gf flour!).
- Storing this cake– Keep this cake stored, covered, at room temperature on the counter for 3-4 days. Otherwise, keep the cake stored in the fridge for up to 1 week. I own one of these cake keepers and I can’t recommend it enough 👌🏾.
This Lemon Coffee Cake is absolutely unreal. For all of my fellow lemon lovers, this one is for y’all…you will LOVE it. Be sure to tag @butterbeready in your BBR recipe creations, I sure love to see it when you do. Until next time! 🤟🏾
More epic baked goods:
- Strawberry Biscuits
- Double Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Fluffy Lemon Sweet Rolls
- Caramel Pecan Cheesecake
- Skillet Peach Cobbler
- Malted Brown Butter Cookies
Extra Moist Lemon Coffee Cake with Icing
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8
- Category: Breakfast, Brunch
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This bright Lemon Coffee Cake is sending traditional coffee cake to the curb. The cake is bursting with lemon flavor galore, extra tender and moist, and so delicious. Lemon-flavored sponge cake, a brown sugar cinnamon center, a crumbly topping, and a slick lemony-vanilla icing to finish…sheesh. This lemon coffee cake makes for a lovely breakfast/brunch treat alongside your favorite hot beverage, mmm!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Zest & juice of 1 small lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 (3.4 ounce) box Jell-O lemon instant pudding & pie filling
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For the cinnamon sugar center:
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
For the crumb topping:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
For the icing- (optional):
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Generously coat a tubular-shaped baking pan (aka tube/angel food cake pan) with non-stick spray and set aside.
- For the cake: In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and lemon zest + lemon juice. Whisk the wet ingredients well to combine. Then add the flour, dry lemon pudding mix, baking powder, and salt. Mix the batter until just combined. Then set the cake batter aside.
- For the cinnamon sugar center: In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Use your hands or a utensil to work the mixture together until well combined. Set aside.
- For the crumb topping: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture resembles coarse, sand-like crumbles. I like to use my hands to form the streusel.
- For cake assembly: Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared baking pan. Then use a utensil to spread the batter to the edges or gently tap to fill the bottom. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the cake batter. Then evenly pour the remaining cake batter over the cinnamon sugar. Lastly, evenly sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake, gently patting the crumbs into the cake batter.
- Bake the cake at 325°F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Meanwhile, prepare the icing.
- For the icing (optional): In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Whisk the icing until silky smooth and well combined.
- After baking, let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then carefully remove the cake from the pan and transfer the cake to a cooling rack to continue cooling, and evenly drizzle the icing over the cake (if using). Let the cake sit for 10-15 minutes for the icing to set.
- Serve. Slice the lemon coffee cake into wedges and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten-free needs? Swap the all-purpose flour for any gluten-free baking flour as a 1:1 ratio (we love Bob’s Red Mill gf flour!).
- Please read blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.
Recipe by: Quin Liburd- Butter Be Ready
Photography by: The Mindful Hapa
