This gluten-free coffee cake is made extra rich and tender with the addition of sour cream. It is filled and topped with a cinnamon sugar.
Based on a long-time family recipe, this coffee cake is sure to become your new go-to recipe!
You might also like this recipe for gluten-free donuts or gluten-free apple cake.
This is hands-down the best coffee cake I’ve ever had. Bold claim, but it’s true! This recipe is based on my Grandma’s tried-and-true sour cream cinnamon nut cake.
With a good gluten-free flour blend and a few tweaks, I’ve made it to be undetectably gluten-free. It’s moist, delicious, and perfect for a special brunch or holiday breakfast!
Why I love this recipe
- Perfect for special occasions – This gluten-free sour cream coffee cake is one of my favorite things to make as a special occasion breakfast cake (think Christmas morning served with this gluten-free quiche).
- Incredibly moist – Thanks to one secret ingredient (sour cream) this gluten-free coffee cake is amazingly moist and tender.
- Warm, spiced flavor – This coffee cake is bursting with flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. It’s SO comforting and irresistible!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are a few notes on the key ingredients to make this gluten-free coffee cake:
For the Gluten-Free Coffee Cake
- Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour: These muffins turn out best when you use a high-quality 1:1 gluten-free baking flour. Look for a blend that contains xanthan gum so the muffins have the structure they need. This is my favorite brand.
- Sour Cream: This is the secret ingredient to amazing coffee cake! It adds richness and tenderness as well as a delicious flavor.
- Spices: I love the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom in this coffee cake.
- Nuts: You can use either pecans or walnuts. I usually use pecans!
For the Cinnamon Nut Topping
A cinnamon nut cumble topping makes this gluten-free coffee cake especially delicious. You’ll also layer some of this mixture as a filling for delicious cinnamon sugar flavor in every bite.
You also might like these gluten-free cinnamon rolls or gluten-free monkey bread.
How to Make Gluten-Free Coffee Cake
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamon. In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the streusel topping and set aside.
Mix sour cream and baking soda. In another separate bowl mix together the sour cream and baking soda.
Mix butter and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer) cream the room temperature butter, white sugar, and brown sugar for 5 to 8 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla. Add the vanilla extract and eggs and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the side and bottom of the electric mixer bowl and mix again.
Add dry ingredients. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Now add the wet ingredients, including 1/2 the sour cream. Mix, then add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Repeat with the remaining sour cream and dry ingredients, mixing after each addition. Stir in nuts.
Layer the batter and crumble. Now it’s time to layer the batter and cinnamon crumble! Spoon half of the cake batter from a large bowl and into the prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon swirl in an even layer over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter over the sand layer and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar nut sand on the top. (You may not use it all).
Bake. Bake the cake. Let the gluten-free sour cream coffee cake cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
Storage Tips/Make Ahead
To store: This coffee cake is best eaten within a day it’s baked. If you’d like to store it, I recommend putting it in the freezer.
To Freeze: Wrap the crumb cake tightly in several layers of plastic wrap. Then wrap in foil. Store as is, in a cake pan, or in an airtight container. Freeze for up to 2 months. Let the cake defrost in the refrigerator (the texture is better than thawing it at room temperature) when you’re ready to eat it.
Recipe Tips
- Use parchment paper. Layer your baking pan with parchment paper to easily remove the coffee cake for serving.
- For nut alternatives. You can use either pecans or walnuts for this gluten-free coffee cake. I like to use pecans. But of course, if you have a nut allergy or don’t like nuts, you can skip them!
- Use high-quality butter. Butter helps give this cake a more tender, rich crumb. Try splurging on a European butter like Kerrygold for an even richer flavor!
- For sour cream alternatives. If you don’t have sour cream, you can try substituting with plain whole milk yogurt.
- Measure flour precisely. Adding too much flour with result in a dense, dry cake. For best results remember to use a measuring cup and be precise, using the back of a butter knife to level off your flour.
More Gluten-Free Baking Recipes
Gluten-Free Coffee Cake (with Sour Cream)
Ingredients
For the Sour Cream Coffee Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free 1:1 baking flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon cardamon
- 1 cup sour cream blended
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 stick butter softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter or grease a 9x9x2 inch baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamon. In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the topping and set aside. In another small bowl, mix together the sour cream and baking soda.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer) cream the butter and brown and granulated sugar for 5 to 8 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the side and bottom of the bowl and mix again.
- With the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add 1/2 the sour cream and mix, followed by another 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Repeat with the remaining sour cream and dry ingredients, mixing after each addition. Stir in the nuts.
- Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar nut sand over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter over the sand layer and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar nut sand on the top (you may not use it all).
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 20-30 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
FAQs
Coffee cake can become dry if you add too much flour or not enough butter. Adding sour cream to coffee cake results in an ultra-moist, rich cake.
Coffee cake is an single-layer cake infused with cinnamon and a crumb topping of butter, flour, and sugar on top of the cake. It’s perfect with a cup of coffee, for breakfast, or dessert.
Coffee cake is unique because of its cinnamon flavor and cinnamon streusel topping. It’s a great recipe that can easily be made with pantry staples!
This wasn’t hard and was really tasty. I didn’t have cardamom so used a little more cinnamon. I also messed up and put all the nuts in the cake and didn’t have quite enough sour cream, so I made up the rest (a couple tablespoons) with heavy cream. Even with those mishaps it was great! Also I like the size – I don’t need 9×13 inches of coffee cake for my family of 4. 🙂
Hi Jessica, we’re so happy to hear you loved the coffee cake! We love the problem-solving and we’re so glad it turned out amazing! Thank you for sharing your positive experience with us.
This was yummy! Mine turned out a teensy bit dry but that could be because my oven runs hot ( tho I did take it out earlier than suggested because of this). Next time I will take it out even a few minutes earlier than I did and also try a European butter to see if that adds a bit more moistness. The serving size is very generous considering how reasonable the calorie count per serving is! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Hi Sherry, we’re so glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. Happy baking!
What is the measurement for a stick of butter?
Hi Andrea, a stick of butter is typically 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons. We hope you enjoy the coffee cake!
Can I convert this to muffins?
Hi Robbin, absolutely! You’ll most likely need to reduce the baking time if you go the muffin route. If it still seems like it’s baking too fast, it could benefit from a lower oven temperature as well. Thanks for your question!
Any chance I could substitute out the eggs? Anyone had luck with that.
Hi Kathy, we haven’t tried egg replacements with this recipe to say for sure, but our readers are great about sharing their experiences with substitutions in the comment section. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes!
what if I were to make muffins with batter, same temp? what would baking time be please. (I am at altitude also, so any tips, thanks!)
Hi Pamela, great questions! You should be able to stick to the same baking temperature and just reduce the baking time. A general guideline is to reduce it by 5% – 10% so in this case roughly by 2-4 minutes, but the safest way is to use a toothpick to test the doneness as ovens can impact baking times. We don’t have much experience with high altitude baking. Thanks for your questions!
This gluten-free coffee cake Is the best! I’m happy that it’s gkuten free, easy to make and super good!
I love that this is gluten free! And the added in sour cream made it SO yummy! We loved this!
Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I used my own GF rice flour blend, and it worked perfectly. The only thing I did different was cut the sugar in half, and upped the salt a bit. Perfect!
Can this be mixed up night before & baked morning of?
Yes that should work great!
This cake was moist and delicious. Everyone raved about it. I modified the topping by adding 2 tbsp of butter and a dash of salt for a moist, savory-sweet topping. Next time, I’ll increase the topping by 1/3 since there wasn’t enough to cover both layers. Overall, I would make this recipe again and again.
Thanks for the helpful comment! That sounds delicious. Glad you enjoyed it!
Could you make this into a Bundt cake? Would I change the cooking times?
Hi Ruth, this recipe should be possible in a Bundt pan. Make sure to grease the pan well, follow the recipe accordingly, then watch the baking time. You will most likely need to add 5-15 minutes onto the baking time for a Bundt pan. Let it cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. We’d love to hear how it goes! Happy baking!
I literally NEVER leave comments, but I HAD to write one for this because it was THAT good. Best GF dessert I’ve ever made – like others said, you cannot tell it’s GF at all. Perfect texture, perfect amount of sweetness, and very well written instructions. It makes all the difference! Thanks so much for this incredible recipe. I won’t ever need to look for another one for coffee cake.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Love this moist cake so very much. Since I had milk that had soured, I used that in lieu of sour cream and it came out delicious! Highly recommend this recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Fabulous – I added more walnuts bc I like the texture. I did half and half of plain yogurt and sour cream. My mom used to make this when she had ladies over for coffee when I was a school aged child, and since I’ve become celiac I haven’t even thought of it. I had this craving for it, and googled it and voila this was wonderful! I took some to my mom and she could not believe this was gluten free. I used King Arthur 1:1 flour. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so happy you were able to recreate a childhood favorite! Glad it got your Mom’s approval too 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
Absolutely scrumptious. No one could ever guess it’s Gluten free. So moist. One of the yummiest cakes EVER. I always make 2. A mandolin slicer is the trick to get super thin slices of apple. But be careful with the mandolin slicer.
Use the hand guard! Trust me!
I made this with some sour cream that I wanted to use up. It turned out really good. I would make it again.
I’m so glad it turned out for you! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Will this recipe turn out good with wheat flour?